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Few pastors step away from the pulpit, but what compels those who quit? Lifeway Research found only 1.1 percent of all U.S. Protestant pastors leave pastoral ministry before retirement age each year. Analysis comparing Lifeway Research’s studies of current and former Protestant pastors reveals factors that predict the likelihood of leaving pastoral ministry. “Experts can theorize what keeps pastors in the pulpit, but only a comparison of pastors who have stayed to those who have left can point to what matters,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “This rare opportunity to see what helps and what diminishes a...

"Historically, Catholics have argued that the papacy was a divinely-given institution papacy (Matt 16:17-19) etc., and they have relied on the notion that there have been bishops of Rome extending all the way back to the time of Peter. This notion of bishops extending all the way back was thought to be actual history. In fact, as Shotwell and Loomis pointed out, in the General Introduction to their 1927 work "The See of Peter": With reference to the Petrine doctrine, however, the Catholic attitude is much more than a "pre-disposition to believe." That doctrine is the fundamental basis of the...

The Gospel According to Hybels & Warren (By Nathan Busenitz) Copyright 2003, Pulpit - Shepherds' Fellowship. All Rights Reserved. For more information about Shepherds' Fellowship and how to join go to: www.gracechurch.org/sfellowship/ INTRODUCTION Preliminary Considerations The numbers are certainly impressive, the buildings expensive, and the congregations expansive. And there is plenty of reason to be enthusiastic— lost people are attending weekend services, the "unchurched" are being reached, and auditoriums once empty are being filled. But does the evangelistic philosophy behind the so-called "Church Growth Movement" (hereafter CGM) match up to the biblical model? Does it meet Scripture's standards or does...