Ryan Scantling

Do not ever doubt the significance of telling a person about Jesus.

@lukeholmes @SBCHistory Wow! Most interesting to me: Is this the first time in history the number of churches in the SBC has declined?

Here is some data about the location frequency of the SBC Meetings and the % of churches represented. I’m missing some data I can’t find, but it gives an interesting perspective over all. From 49-53 the it was held in OKC, Chicago, SF, Miami, Houston, STL, and then Miami again.

@korey_pw @2econdWrestling I can buy a book of 50 matches, but that doesn’t mean I can start a fire.

Last night in Chicago at @2econdWrestling, Dylan and I had our 50th match as a tag team. 50 matches APW Champs (Cincinnati,OH) Finals of New South tag Grand Prix 12 title matches 18 promotions 9 states Cold Wrld

@boringcompany Fort Smith, AR! East Side Baptist Church will commit to feeding the whole crew on the day of your choosing!

Tunnel Vision Challenge update! 1. University Hills Loop: Great initial meetings with regulators. Many more to come. Hoping to submit a permit application in April. Goal is to strengthen access to transit/jobs in South Dallas, and possibly then extend/connect to North Dallas. 2. NOLA Loop: Great initial meetings with elected officials and the Convention Center. Many more meetings to come. Goal is to strengthen connectivity by the Convention Center and Business District, and reduce event related congestion. 3. Ravens Loop: After initial meetings, this project unfortunately will not be moving forward as part of the competition. What does everyone think? Should TBC select another project to fill the now-open third slot?

When Abram was seventy-five years old, the Lord spoke to him and called him to leave his family and go to a land that God would show him. “and he left, not knowing where he was going.” Hebrews 11:8 Are you willing to go wherever God calls?

Societal Revolution & Spiritual Revival are often related. The 1st Great Awakening took place a few decades before the American Revolution. The 2nd Great Awakening took place a few decades after the American Revolution. The Jesus Movement coincided w/ The Sexual Revolution.

@TexasPreacher Need to think harder. No need to disgrace those doing the most evangelistic ministry in the most strategic places.

I've been preaching on campuses all over the country for 10+ years, and I can't think of a single campus ministry that was solid. Maybe they're out there, but most are mush at best, & woefully progressive at worst. They are usually our greatest antogonists, in fact. Mark/avoid

@jchasedavis 100% false! You are speaking ill of the most evangelistic ministries in America.

Campus ministries once served evangelistic purposes but today they exist to make good liberals out of Christian kids.

I don’t know how high school football players earn stars, but I like to think it happens the same way as @CrackerBarrel waitresses. When you get a 3-star or up you’re guaranteed a good experience.

@JacobScottDavis Houston Dale Nutt

Who do you want as the next Razorback football coach? #wps

The Presidential candidates heat up their campaigns with two days until the Election. Al Gore campaigns at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor (and goes bowling) and drinks coffee and grills sausage with locals in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. George W. Bush is focused on Florida. He rallies in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and West Palm Beach. He does not visit any other state today. In less than 60 hours, we will know our next President.

Bring him back to Fayetteville ASAP!

@rhyneputman You need to write more colorful books!

Please don’t sort books by color.

@DavidBazzel Why could I not find this streaming anywhere yesterday?

Opening comments by Bobby Petrino

@RazorbackFB Where do yall show post game press conferences these days?

Final from Fayetteville

@korey_pw @Dyl_Fa_Ryl I’ll take that as a forfeit and will count it as a W!

@korey_pw @Dyl_Fa_Ryl I want to book you in Fort Smith Arkansas this Saturday for a game of Madden.

“You gotta be the first indie wrestler to make a pie chart” -@Dyl_Fa_Ryl

@randycdavistbc Thanks for updates! Praying for Rob. One of the best pastors and leaders in Arkansas.

After triple bypass, Rob is out of surgery and in CCU. Thank you for your prayers!

@edstetzer @WycliffeHall @talbottheology Alvin Reid’s Evangelism Handbook and Matt Queen’s Recapturing Evangelism are good more recent works. RT Kendall’s Stand Up and Be Counted would be interesting with that group.

@timcasteel Love it!! Keep doing the work!

@DrBradWhitt Great stuff! I’m loving these posts…please keep them coming!

Five Things That Will Cost You Your Ministry — And How to Avoid Them Pastoring isn’t just a job. It’s a calling. A sacred trust. Paul wrote to Timothy, a young pastor under fire: “Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this you will save both yourself and those who hear you.” (1 Timothy 4:16) Notice the order: yourself first, then your doctrine. You can preach right and still lose your ministry if you don’t guard your life and your leadership. And hear me clearly: if you’re not careful, these things will cost you your ministry. Most pastors don’t explode in a dramatic fashion. They just leak out slowly. It’s not usually one headline-making scandal that ends a ministry. More often, it’s the slow drip of neglect, poor decisions, unresolved conflict, or misplaced priorities. Week by week, month by month, the courage leaks out. The conviction leaks out. The joy leaks out. The relationships leak out. Until one day, the pastor has nothing left — and the ministry crumbles. That’s why you need to see the danger clearly. Here are five things that will cost you your ministry — and how you can avoid them. 1. If You Neglect Your Walk With God, You’ll Dry Up. The leak usually starts here. The most dangerous thing you can do as a pastor is get too busy with the work of God and forget the God of the work. Sermon prep replaces personal devotion. Public prayers replace private ones. Slowly, quietly, the spiritual fuel runs dry. This is subtle because it feels productive. You’re in the Bible all the time. You’re praying in front of people constantly. But if you don’t meet with God privately, your soul shrivels. You become a professional preacher instead of a passionate shepherd. Samson is the picture. Judges 16:20 says, “He did not know that the LORD had departed from him.” That’s terrifying. Samson still went through the motions, still flexed his muscles, still shook himself — but the power was gone. I wonder how many pastors do the same every Sunday. The lights are on, the sermon is ready, but the fire of God is absent because they’ve neglected their personal walk. Red Flags: - You only open your Bible for sermon prep. - You pray more in front of people than alone with God. - You can go days without intimacy with God and not miss it. How to Avoid It: - Guard your quiet time like you guard your pulpit. - Keep a devotional Bible separate from your preaching Bible. - Pray without an agenda — not just for sermons, but for your soul. - Build rhythms of Sabbath, solitude, and rest before burnout forces you. Warren Wiersbe warned: “The danger for a preacher is that he may learn how to preach without learning how to pray.” That’s how the leaks begin. That’s how ministries collapse from the inside out. And here’s the truth: the longer you neglect your walk, the less you notice the leak. Until one day you wake up, and it’s too late. 2. If You Won’t Lead With Courage, You’ll Lose Trust. You weren’t called to be a chaplain. You were called to be a shepherd. And shepherds lead. Most pastors don’t fail because of scandal — they fail because they stop leading. They leak courage one decision at a time: avoiding conflict here, dodging a tough call there, letting strong personalities drive the agenda. Over time, the people lose confidence in your leadership. Think of Moses. When he delayed on the mountain, the people turned to idols. Leadership vacuums always get filled — usually by the wrong voices. Adrian Rogers once said: “A leader is one who sees more than others see, farther than others see, and before others see.” If you stop seeing and stepping forward, your leadership leaks away until there’s nothing left for people to follow. Red Flags: - You dodge hard conversations to stay popular. - You let staff, deacons, or factions set the direction. - You hide in your study instead of walking among your people. How to Avoid It: - Lead with vision rooted in Scripture, not just your opinion. - Make the hard calls — even when they’re unpopular. - Shepherd people through change, don’t just announce it. Remember: courage isn’t the absence of fear. It’s obedience in spite of fear. Courage leaks slowly. One compromise here, one retreat there, one avoided conflict — until you have no credibility left. Leadership is built on trust, and trust drains drip by drip when you won’t lead. 3. If You Mishandle Conflict, You’ll Bleed Out. This one cuts deep because it’s where most pastors get worn down. Critics rise. Betrayal stings. Attacks mount. And instead of enduring, many pastors either lash out in the flesh or retreat in defeat. Both responses drain credibility and joy. I’ll never forget one of the darkest seasons early at Abilene. A small, hateful cohort wanted me gone. They schemed and slandered. And I said, with grit in my gut: “I ain’t never been forced to leave!” That wasn’t arrogance. That was resolve. Because I knew this: if I leaked out under pressure, if I walked away bitter, my enemies would get the last word. But if I endured, God would write the last chapter. Conflict is not optional in ministry. Paul told Timothy, 2 Timothy 2:3, “You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” Soldiers don’t quit just because someone fired a shot. Nehemiah faced critics in Sanballat and Tobiah. Spurgeon endured the pain of the “Downgrade Controversy.” Jesus Himself was betrayed with a kiss. If they endured, so must you. Red Flags: - You stew over every critic. - You try to out-shout or out-argue your attackers. - You obsess over who’s for you and who’s against you. How to Avoid It: - Expect opposition. If Jesus was betrayed, you will be too. - Don’t let bitterness grow. Forgive quickly. - Stay close to those who love you. Don’t abandon the sheep to appease wolves. - Keep your conscience clear before God and let Him handle vindication. Most pastors don’t implode under conflict. They just bleed out slowly — one attack at a time, one betrayal at a time — until there’s nothing left in the tank. 4. If You Make Foolish Decisions, You’ll Run Out of Change. Some pastors don’t fail in scandal — they fail in judgment. Not with one catastrophic collapse, but with a slow drip of poor leadership calls that eventually drains their credibility. A rushed hire here. A careless comment there. A decision made in fear instead of faith. Over time, those small leaks add up until the people no longer trust you to lead. When the moment of crisis comes, you discover you have no change left in your pockets. You’ve spent it all — and the people won’t follow. One of the most common leaks comes in hiring. I’ve heard it said, and it’s true: “I’ve hired most of my problems.” And sometimes it’s not just the wrong person in the wrong spot. It’s the wrong person altogether. They may be talented, charismatic, and energetic, but if they’re toxic or unteachable, no title will fix it. Putting them on your team is like inviting termites into the house — they’ll eat away at the foundation from within. Another leak comes when pastors oversell themselves. I know of two pastors who told their new churches that the congregations they had led before were half the size they actually were. They inflated their résumés. And now their new churches wonder why they can’t break through the next level. The reason is simple: those pastors have never been there before. They don’t know how to navigate or lead at that level. They set expectations they can’t meet, and every Sunday that goes by without progress, the congregation loses a little more trust. And today, social media makes it worse. A few well-angled photos, a couple of highlight reels, some cleverly worded posts — and suddenly a struggling ministry looks like it’s booming. Without integrity, a pastor can build a platform online that doesn’t exist in real life. But image can’t hold up under local scrutiny. When local reality doesn’t match social media branding, credibility leaks away, drip by drip, until the ministry collapses under the weight of its own hype. At the end of the day, you can’t lead by feelings, friendships, or fear. You have to lead with conviction. You have to make the call that’s best for the church — even when it costs you. As Terry Doss, who served as Abilene’s Executive Pastor for a decade, often said: “You have to do what is best for the church.” Red Flags: - You hire in a hurry just to fill a spot. - You overlook warning signs because you “need somebody.” - Your résumé sounds bigger than your fruit. - You bend decisions to protect relationships instead of the mission. - Your social media looks more like marketing than ministry. How to Avoid It: - Better no hire than a bad hire. Don’t let urgency trump discernment. - Character before competence. Skills can be taught; integrity can’t. - Be honest. Don’t inflate numbers. Don’t pretend. - Build credibility through faithfulness, not flash. Always ask: “What’s best for the church?” Bad hires, inflated résumés, leadership-by-friendship, image-over-integrity — they don’t usually kill a ministry in one moment. But they leak trust, drip by drip, until you have nothing left to spend. 5. If You Neglect Family and Relationships, You’ll End Up Alone. Some pastors flame out morally. Many more leak out relationally. They slowly sacrifice their wives and kids on the altar of ministry. They isolate themselves until they wake up with no true friends. They think they’re strong — until the storm hits and they find they’re all alone. Elijah stood tall on Mount Carmel, but when he thought he was alone, he wanted to die. Isolation will drain you dry. Red Flags: - Your spouse resents the ministry because it stole you. - Your kids see church as competition for their dad’s time. - You have no close friends who know you outside the pulpit. How to Avoid It: - Love your wife first. Pursue her heart. Pray with her. - Be present with your kids. Don’t just show up at events; show up in their lives. - Build friendships outside your church who refresh and sharpen you. - Stay humble and let trusted people speak into your life. 1 Timothy 3:5, “If a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?” Your first flock is your family. If you leak out there, the rest won’t hold. Conclusion. Pastor, most men don’t lose their ministry in one dramatic blowup. They leak it away slowly. A neglected walk with God. Leadership without courage. Conflict that wore them down. Foolish decisions that piled up. Bad hires that poisoned the well. Inflated résumés that set false expectations. A family left starving for ministry. Drip by drip, the tank runs dry — until there’s nothing left and no change left in your pockets. But it doesn’t have to happen to you. Sometimes the hardest part of ministry isn’t just knowing what not to do — it’s knowing what to do. - It’s not enough to avoid immorality. You’ve got to walk with God. - It’s not enough to avoid scandal. You’ve got to lead with conviction. - It’s not enough to avoid conflict. You’ve got to endure with grit. - It’s not enough to avoid foolishness. You’ve got to make wise decisions. - It’s not enough to avoid neglecting your family. You’ve got to love them well. At the end of the day, you can’t lead by feelings, friendships, or fear. Again, as Terry Doss always said: “You have to do what is best for the church.” So I’ll say it plainly: these five things will cost you your ministry if you let them. But if you guard your heart, lead with courage, endure with faith, make wise decisions, and love your family — you won’t just survive ministry. You’ll finish it. And one day, you’ll be able to say with Paul: 2 Timothy 4:7, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” The cost of leaking out is too high. The reward of finishing well is eternal. #pastor #pastoralleadership #pastoralministry #pastorlife #churchleadership #preacher #preaching #fivethingsbook