![The Musings of An Ordinary Pastor]()
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...
![A Week’s Worth of Tweets for 2009-03-14]()
by Bret Capranica | Mar 14, 2009 | Twitter
Happily home. # Helping Kel get her office & life organizaed #GTD style. # Going for a walk with the ladies of my life-what a beautiful day. # Enjoyed putting Brie to bed. Now to head there myself. Our clocks are turned back-I’m already up past my Sat eve bed time. # RT: @edstetzer: Faith Blogging, an interesting new site covering Christian blogging, lists the top 50 blogs: http://tinyurl.com/bevoxz # Finishing up prep for the day-looking forward to the opportunities to serve and worship with the church. # Off to gather with God’s people. # WOW! 5 shot and 1 killed at First Baptist Church in Maryville, IL this morning. http://tinyurl.com/dfogwe (via @johnwmartin) in reply to johnwmartin # Had some wonderful fellowship through the day with the Lord’s people. Ready now to relax a bit. # Twittering during our Pastors’ meeting-you can tell we have some VERY important issues to discuss this week. # Lunch at my desk about to watch the Meet The Press NetCast http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/ # Just finished a few calls, now working on e-mail-I’m a bit behind since being out most of last week. # Home from a day of administrative catch-up. Ready to play with the fam. # RT @tonyrobbins: I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody. –Bill Cosby (via @MichaelHyatt) in reply to MichaelHyatt # Up to begin the day before the Lord. Thanking him for the cross and that his mercies are new every morning. # A church member, Jim Zweifel just passed away-on my way to be with the family. # Back...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 7, 2009 | Ecclesiology, Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Preaching
My expectations for encouragement, equipping, and fellowship as well as theological, spiritual, and practical stimulation were all exceeded this past week. I’m exhausted as I write, but overjoyed with the benefits from a fruitful three days at the 2009 Shepherds’ Conference. In an abbreviated, fashion, here were the highlights for me: Of the three days, Friday was the highlight for me. Every message hit me personally and practically (Phil Johnson, Alex Montoya’s seminar, Steve Lawson, and John MacArthur). Every song, every meal, every conversation, every moment was especially sweet to me that day. You should go and listen (or re-listen) to each of the messages from Friday. I was prepared to return to the flock. Overall: The messages ““ every one of them was used significantly in my heart. I could never communicate it all. John MacArthur stirred up my passions for the authority and sufficiency of the Scriptures. He reminded me of the simplicity, yet profound impact the basics of Scriptural ministry have. He taught me again the value of plumbing the depths and doing your best to make them clear in your preaching. Tom Pennington, challenged me to protect and build the church the way Scripture demands. Rick Holland fixed my ministry focus on Christ and challenged me to make my pursuit of His glory ultimate. Albert Mohler infused my soul with a passion to preach so that the authority of Christ is publicly displayed and obvious. Phil Johnson demonstrated the relevancy of the Scriptures taught in their historical context. He powerfully demonstrated the implications of the passage (Titus 2:6-8) to the issue of our reverent speech...
![A Week’s Worth of Tweets for 2009-03-07]()
by Bret Capranica | Mar 7, 2009 | Twitter
Headed out to a church-wide prayer meeting-should be very encouraging and edifying. # Great prayer time-well attended-focused-fervent. Very encouraged. Now for a little admin before sermon prep. # Sermon Outline prep on Rom 15:7-13 # Lunch break-left over pasta with Kel and Brie. # Off to get a haircut! # Back in the study-more sermon prep. # Finished sermon notes (1st draft), and have been prepping for other meetings tomorrow-Finance and Sunday School. now to catch up on e-mail. # RT: @edstetzer: Paul Harvey has died (http://tinyurl.com/dcccyg). A good man who now really knows “the rest of the story.” Thanks, Paul. # Just finished an enjoyable dinner along with a rambunctious play time with Brie. I haven’t done somersaults in a VERY LONG TIME. # Time to finish some admin and review the sermon. # Prayer and final prep for the day. Looking forward to a good, intense, long day. # Off to gather with God’s people. # quick lunch, quick nap, quick prep then back to the office for premarital counseling session, finance meeting, then evening worship # Finishing up a long day-headed home. Good day of serving and worshiping. # Eating a delicious salad and about to watch the Meet The Press Netcast http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/ # Prepping music for the next few weeks. # Many phone calls this afternoon-just now putting the phone down. Whew! # Made it for a great dinner and fun play time with Brie-what a joy to come home. # Ever seen this? Wow!! http://tr.im/cwlw # About to take in the word and breathe out prayer. Doing some planning and ministry project work this...
by Bret Capranica | Mar 4, 2009 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Personal, Preaching
This week I will attend my sixteenth Shepherds’ Conference. I have been attending since 1991, when I was pastoring a church in Texas, and have only missed 2 since then. For a number of reasons, I have found it to be one of the best and most encouraging conferences I have attended in my ministry. It highlights the effective ministry of one local church. Grace Community Church has been pastored by John MacArthur for forty years. His ministry of faithful exposition has permeated the church’s culture and has produced a healthy congregation. I am always encouraged to interact with the members of GCC during the conference. One of the highlights for me in the early years was actually staying in the homes of the members and seeing the fruit of the church’s ministry. It provides exposure to a seminary located on the campus of a local church. One of the key issues that attracted me to study at The Master’s Seminary was the close connection the seminary shares with the church. The seminary is actually located on the church’s campus. Students interact with the pastors of GCC, and a few actually have the opportunity to work at the church and get an inside look. The majority of the professors are involved in pastoring local churches in addition to their teaching responsibilities. Few seminaries can provide this sort of essential connection to the local church like TMS. It highlights the expositional preaching of God’s Word. We will interact deeply and regularly with the Scripture this week. We will hear from some of the best Bible expositors in the country. We...
