by Bret Capranica | Apr 14, 2009 | Blogging, Personal
The Capranica has successfully moved. Thanks to the help and expertise of one excellent, Chad Martin (who you should look at using for professional photography!), we are now located at a domain name all our own. What has changed? Umm, well, not much really. I hope to be posting more (although I’m on vacation right now and really should be relaxing and not blogging ““ just ask Kel). The entire site with all the thrilling articles of the past are still located here for your enjoyment. One thing that HAS changed are the FEEDS. If you feed THE CAPRANICA, you will need to change to the following: Click HERE for RSS feeds. Subscribe to THE CAPRANICA by Email Thanks to all 10 of you who regularly read (that’s really up from some time ago). I appreciate you dropping by. Now, back to vacation . ....
by Bret Capranica | Mar 23, 2009 | Blogging, Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry
Wouldn’t blogging be persona non grata in the life of the truly ordinary pastor? Maybe a few years ago, but no longer. I would suspect that the majority of pastors blogging today are among the ordinary variety. It helps that more than 99% of the pastors in our country are ordinarily flavored, so you would expect that the same percentage of pastors blogging will be ordinary pastors. With that in mind, why should a pastor blog? I wish more extraordinary pastors blogged ““ I mean really blogged. Not like those guys who have their staff post excerpts from the books. I wish they would actually take a half-hour a day and write something about their life, ministry, personal discipline, reading habits, family life, and the very unique experiences they have in ministry. It’s good to hear from some of the extraordinary guys who share from the overflow of their vast amount of time in the Scriptures and years of experience. But I also like hearing from the average Joe. In fact, I think there are a host of reasons why an ordinary pastor should blog (I have a few pastors in mind and would love to get them started – I may publicly expose them if they continue to resist). Here’s my list. It humanizes the ministry, allowing people to see the past the ivory tower facade. It allows you to speak to issues you could not cover in your sermon (even though your sermon was too long already). It gives another opportunity to write ““ and writing helps a pastor to be more clear and concrete with histhoughts....
by Bret Capranica | Mar 21, 2009 | Blogging, Featured Articles
What would you want to see more of on THE CAPRANICA? We’re making a few plans around here to begin rounds of more regular posting. But I thought I would first ask my audience of 3 to give me some suggestions of what you would like to see. See the poll on the Home Page and give me some of your feedback. I’d love to know (I...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 15, 2009 | Blogging, Technology, Time/Life Management
Most who use Google Reader will know this, but for those out there who are fairly new to GReader, this may be something you’ve overlooked. Helpful keyboard shortcuts. Are there any keyboard shortcuts? – Google Reader...
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by Bret Capranica | Mar 15, 2009 | Blogging, Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry
I am an ordinary pastor. That is, I know myself well enough and I have been around enough extraordinary pastors to be well aware of how ordinary I am. The content, regularity, and writing style found here at THE CAPRANICA all document the degree of my ordinariness. Actually, I enjoy being ordinary. Obscurity is often bliss. Normality, more than often, is a blessing. The front-lines of the ordinary contain enough excitement, challenge, heartache, and doldrum to keep me focused and engaged in the Lord’s work. I have been an ordinary pastor for over 20 years (I began ministry in 1988 in a rural Texas Panhandle church) and I have never been bored with ministry; I’ve always been busy, and I’m as excited today about serving the church as I was twenty years ago when I began. I really do enjoy being among the ordinary. Ordinary is not often publicly celebrated, but ordinary pastors dominate the landscape of church life across our country; we are, by far, the vast majority. In reality, only a small percentage of pastors in the world could really be called or evaluated as extraordinary. I thank God for many of them . The Savior has used (and still does) a few of them in many influential ways in my life and ministry. Yet, most of us who serve the Lord as local church shepherds will not host presidential forums; books will not host our names as authors; national conferences will not contain our photos as keynote speakers; our church facilities will never be highlighted on the latest church growth magazines; and the denominational leaders have...
