Practical Theology / Pastoral Ministry

  • The Wisdom of Listening by Burk Parsons

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2008

    Wise men are difficult to find. We must go to great lengths - we must search high and low in order to find a man who is truly wise. I grieve for my children and my children’s children as …Read More

  • Dear Bob by R.C. Sproul

    FROM TABLETALK | April 1992

    Your letter struck a raw nerve with me. I felt a sense of déjà vu. My mind snapped back to my own seminary days and subsequent early years of ministry. The first memory it sparked was of occasions as …Read More

  • The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry by Gilbert Tennent

    FROM TABLETALK | April 1992

    And Jesus, when He came out, saw many people and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd (Mark 6:34 KJV). The ministry of natural men is for the most part unprofitable …Read More

  • True Shepherding by Joel Beeke

    FROM TABLETALK | April 2007

    Every morning for several months, my wife and I walked past an injured Canada goose, whose feathers stuck out in several directions. For all those months, several geese dutifully stayed with the injured bird. Likewise, caring for the wounded is …Read More

  • Beauty and the Princeton Piety by Andrew Hoffecker

    The Princeton Theology was an attempt to maintain Reformed theology and experience in America during the nineteenth and the opening decades of the twentieth centuries. The men at Princeton staunchly defended the objective elements in the Christian faith against the …Read More

  • Weak Shepherds and Hirelings by Robert Norris

    FROM TABLETALK | April 1992

    The church today is confused, and that confusion is deep and profound. There may be many reasons as to why this is so, but it is true that in this generation, self-doubt, division, and weakness mark the church, even the …Read More

  • Ministering by the Life-Giving Spirit by David Hall

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2011

    Following a 1970s Jesus Movement conversion, I served in youth ministry, where I subjected poor students to nearly every fad imaginable — all, I told myself, to have young people come to Christ. I then served as a pastor, an office …Read More

  • Self-Centered Sermons by Sean Michael Lucas

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2011

    Our Son in the Unfaith, We see that you are making progress with your charge. We applaud you for that. The enemy has enough minions preaching His infernal Word faithfully; to see this one begin to totter and swerve from …Read More

  • A Pastor’s Love for Christ by Nicholas Batzig

    FROM TABLETALK | May 2013

    Dr. John H. Skilton was professor of New Testament at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia for almost fifty-eight years (1939–1998). He was one of the most scholarly men in the church. Rumors have circulated over the years that he …Read More

  • Anti-Shepherds by George Grant

    FROM TABLETALK | February 2011

    Our Dear Asag, Remember: our abysmal sublimity does not so much want to tear down “godly” ways as to build up his own. From the apex of temptation in the garden to the present, his conspiratorial plot has always been …Read More

  • Congregational Counseling by Eric Bancroft

    FROM TABLETALK | December 2010

    Premarital counseling can be an entertaining exercise for an older couple offering guidance to a younger couple. Across from them sit two individuals eager to wed. Apart from occasional disagreements about planning the ceremony, the soon-to-be-newlyweds are prone to think …Read More

  • The Holiness of Pastors and Patriarchs by Burk Parsons

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2007

    As I write this article I am sitting comfortably in a hotel lobby in Minneapolis, Minnesota. This morning, as I walked to the hotel in sub-zero temperatures, while massive, mid-western snowflakes kept falling on my head, during the coldest spell …Read More

  • High Crimes and Misdemeanors by Carl Trueman

    FROM TABLETALK | August 2010

    Some years ago I caused no little consternation when I was invited to speak at a church on the nature of ministry and started my lecture by declaring that it really did not matter if the pastor was an adulterer …Read More

  • The Genuine Life by Scotty Smith

    FROM TABLETALK | June 2009

    With three decades plus change in the pastoral ministry, the gospel seems to be getting bigger and Jesus is appearing more gracious than ever. Maybe that’s because I’ve never been more aware of my brokenness and more disrupted …Read More

  • Something Different by Matt Schmucker

    FROM TABLETALK | March 2009

    Matt, I don’t understand how you and Steve can be a part of the same church given what you each believe and practice.” This came from a young woman with whom my wife and I had been sharing the …Read More