Mike Turner

“The vocation of pastor has been replaced by the strategies of religious entrepreneurs with business plans.”—Eugene Peterson Peterson has been for 40 years my guide to pastoral ministry and his warnings about modern evangelical church leadership continue to be proven true

@Mericamemed That’s Waffle House

That wasn't even the nightshift crew!

@EricLDaugh It seems to me that Rubio is beginning to eclipse Vance for 2028

🚨 HOLY SMOKES. In an incredible moment, Sec. Marco Rubio declares the Western Hemisphere is OURS, Russia, China and Iran must GET OUT WELKER: Why does the US need Venezuelan oil?! RUBIO: "Why does CHINA need their oil? Russia? Iran? This is the West, THIS IS WHERE WE LIVE."🔥 "They are NOT going to come from outside of our hemisphere, destabilize our region in our own backyard and us have to pay the price for it. Not under President Trump!" "This is deeply destabilizing stuff. It's not going to continue to happen!" MARCO IS GREAT 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

@trad_west_ So true

Yes

@TheGreatB00ks Me! (hand waving wildly). Choose me m’lord

Any George MacDonald fans?

@trad_west_ #Crusaders

This is the way

@zealup So awesome! Hope you’re doing well

Finishing 2024 on the River Nile 🛥️

@PastorCroft Absolutely! How can pastors think there’s any other option but to write their own sermons?

Pastors, I know you are busy, but write your own sermons. A sermon written, prayed over, and internalized for a particular group of people, deeply known by the actual preacher, is uniquely used by God in the life of that church. The hard work of sermon writing is worth it.

@rdhasler Yes

Just one observation from both the David Platt doc and the Steve Lawson scandal: There could be something inherently tenuous in divorcing a pastor’s teaching responsibility from his shepherding one.

⛪ While Harris is a member of a San Francisco Baptist church, her beliefs include Hindu and Jewish influences. A uniquely diverse religious identity! #ReligiousDiversity mturner.substack.com/p/kamala-harri…

🗳️ Last Sunday, VP Kamala Harris attended two African American churches near Atlanta, GA. A strategic move in the height of the political season! #Election2024 mturner.substack.com/p/kamala-harri…

@JeffreyPWiesner There’s a threshold of money/celebrity that when a pastor crosses it he’s in dangerous territory. Maybe pastoring was never meant to be carried out by the rich and famous but by ordinary men who are willing to labor in obscurity for Jesus’ glory and not their own

This pandemic of pastoral disqualifications should probably compel more pastors to give up platform-building “for the gospel” and embrace a kind of evangelical anonymity instead. Love and be known by the Lord…your wife…kids…church…close friends. And let that be enough.

@mrdavidrowe So good! One Stott says something, it’s hard for any other commentator to improve on it. Like the comment I once read from a Country Music artist who, when asked to record a Willie Nelson song, refused. Once Willie sings a song, he explained, no one else can sing it.

The older I get, the more I appreciate John Stott.

@KSPrior Don’t weigh the use of the passive voice. Just stop it. You’ll instantly become a better writer.

My husband is single-handedly putting a new heating and cooling system into our 112-year-old house. Meanwhile, I am moving paragraphs, changing subjective cases, and weighing the use of passive voice. Thank God for people who have knowledge and skills that actually improve life! 😅

The health of an organization’s leader determines the health of the organization. I know you probably think it’s more complicated than that, but it’s really not.

The church today is full of cover bands—people (pastors, worship leaders, etc.) trying to be someone else. It’s time to break free from that model of leadership.

@WJ_Bassett I've learned through enough mistakes to write a book that the most undervalued pastoral virtue is patience

A lesson I’ve learnt and still learning: There is so much that happens in pastoral ministry to which the best advice is “ride it out, this too will pass.”

Christmas music in churches is the best. Most of us have figured out that combining traditional with modern worship songs this time of year works great. Makes me wonder why many congregations haven't reached the same conclusion the rest of the year.

It's hard to see where the Southern Baptist Convention ends up after this period of in-fighting but if past history is any guide, there are three options: 1)Great leaders solve the problems; 2)the Convention explodes; 3) We go on fighting. #3 seems most likely

Some days prayer comes easy and some mornings it doesn't. The important thing is to pray anyway.

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering" HB 10:23. Biblical faith doesn’t maintain itself; if churches don’t pay attention, their people will lose their way. Now is not the time for fast-food theology but for the red meat of biblical truth