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After years of trying to be the perfect son, husband, father, and perfect pastor...Mark Elliott slays his dragons of perfectionism, isolation, and superficiality. As mistakes and disappointment happen along his life's journey, Dr. Elliott, a newly transparent, middle-aged pastor confronts his demons of image-conscious paralysis, legalistic upbringing, and unfair judgments by others. In Confessions of an Insignificant Pastor: What Every Pastor Wishes They Could Tell You, Pastor Elliott bares his soul as he takes a brutally honest look at the person we are on the inside that few people ever know. Why would he take such a risk? The reward of helping others find the keys to unlock their prison door is greater than the personal risk. Each chapter hits the nail on the head in relating to the issues inside us and drawing out the hidden person in us all. Dr. Elliott tackles such issues as emotional baggage, people getting on his last nerve, disillusionment, arrogance, messy motives, workaholism and his own battle with sin. When is the last time you heard a pastor confess his debilitating flaws? This book is written from the blood, sweat, and tears that come out of Mark's personal journey. The transparency is refreshing, the honesty is startling, and the positive hope is life-changing.
Ex-Presbyterian pastor turned Catholic convert coveys his feeling of being an outsider in today's Christian faith.
These refreshing confessions of a pastor will help readers live for an audience of One.
Through humor and real-life stories of pain, Steve Hinton looks honestly at tough questions about God, self, and life. While some of these questions might seem shocking coming from a preacher, they are the questions that many of us ask late at night when the lights are out.
Born into an evangelical church family, Ronna rebels, believing she can walk away, unscathed. Ronna is forced to examine her joyless existence and find the courage to stand on her own. In the process, she falls in love with her own life.
People in Merit, Wisconsin, always said Jimmy was . . . you know. But people said all sorts of stupid stuff. Nobody really knew anything. Nobody really knew Jimmy. I guess you could say I knew Jimmy as well as anyone (which was not very well). I knew what scared him. And I knew he had dreams—even if I didn't understand them. Even if he nearly ruined my life to pursue them. Jimmy's dead now, and I definitely know that better than anyone. I know about blood and bone and how bodies decompose. I know about shadows and stones and hatchets. I know what a last cry for help sounds like. I know what blood looks like on my own hands. What I don't know is if I can trust my own eyes. I don't know who threw the stone. Who swung the hatchet? Who are the shadows? What do the living owe the dead?
When I gave my life to the Lord, I used to get angry with myself all the time and I felt hopeless. I kept falling into sin and making dumb decisions that kept me from being successful. How could I be so smart and still be so stupid that I can't beat this thing? Self-pity began to gain strength. I got depressed, at one point I was homeless, and I gave up on myself. I walked away from God many times. One day my mother prayed with me and gave me a Bible and told me to read Romans. I later became a Minister. I couldn't get it right because I couldn't get past my addiction and my own self-interests. How could this be? I am a Minister. Who does the man of God go to when he is failing? The answer is clearly God. I became convinced that my testimony may help some other Ministers who struggle with the same things I did. Like me, they may be waiting on God and hoping He hears them, too! One day I accepted that even Preachers can fail. I wasn't doing anything constructive with my life at that time. I decided to trust God. I didn't know if He would do it, but I prayed anyway. I soon believed that if I asked God for faith, and told people the truth, God was going to change me. Today, I am a Minister in good standing in a church in Orange County, CA and the CEO of a nonprofit called A Touch of Love Works. When you read A Preacher's Confession, you discover that in spite of everything that is wrong with me, there is a side of me that wants to make the world a better place and I will do my part. This is my story. To God be the glory.
For many years, people have asked me to write about my theology, and I have consistently said that I could tell them what I thought at that particular day but that it would be different tomorrow, which is to say that I strongly believe that theology is a growing thing, constantly changing within the context of a changing society. The book became much more autobiographical than I intended. I discovered that my theology changed because of any experiences I had. I have described my story chronologically, beginning with my early years and how the myth of Christianity was implanted in my mind. I go on to show how I got involved in the church during high school and college and discovered others had different myths than I did. This expanding awareness gave me the stimulus to take a hard look at my own myth. Several professors at both college and seminary helped me through the changes in my understanding of the Christian faith, and I describe via some of my writings what those were. In my first congregation, a new church development, and in subsequent ones, I realized that we understate our laity, and their desire to learn about new concepts has come with further study of scholars. I came to trust that desire and began to preach and teach not only the churchs dogmatics but also the results of creative imagination and the discovery of many scholars throughout the world and from many religious perspectives. My final chapter is entitled So What Do You Believe? In this, I make an attempt to pull together the various and growing concepts of my thought throughout my fifty-plus years in the ordained ministry of the Presbyterian Church. From experience, I know laypersons would be interested in this book. In addition, pastors and other religious professionals, I think, would find it helpful as they go through their own theological pilgrimage.
It's a proven fact that your retention rate increases whenever you engage more of your five senses in wrestling with a thought, teaching, or book. This Huddle Playbook/Workbook allows you to use your untapped senses for greater learning while answering workbook questions and also in stimulating conversations with other personal growth-oriented men in a men's huddle small group. What did YOU say? What did that book page say? My point exactly! We need all the retention help, accountability, and personal application help we can get. Men's huddle small groups meeting in homes, health clubs, businesses, coffee shops, bookstores, or churches are the rage. Why? Because men's huddle groups are effective, effervescent, and efficient! Huddle groups are fun, challenging, life-giving, and encouraging. We call our men's small group meetings huddles because we men are on the same team competing against our common enemy, Satan, who is out to destroy our souls and our families. Men's huddles are all about men committing to gather to sharpen one another for the battle that rages! Huddle group discussion points and workbook questions are included in this Huddle Playbook/Workbook. They correspond with each chapter of Neil Kennedy's book entitled, "Centurion Principle: The Protocol of Authority." Each chapter will have more than enough discussion points and questions. These discussion points are meant to create life-giving thoughts and open dialogue among men. Don't settle for simple yes or no answers! Very likely you will have to pick and choose which discussion questions to use or perhaps you may want to have two discussion huddles for each chapter. The choice is yours! Customize and adapt this Huddle Playbook/Workbook for the uniqueness of your specific men's huddle group. Neil Kennedy's book found at www.fivestarman.com and this Huddle Playbook/Workbook are all about YOU! God wants you to grow as a man, father, worker, and husband through timely discussions with other guys. Your decision to become a "CENTURION" man under God's authority will bring protection, power, prosperity, and promotion to you and your family. Friend, God has placed a lot of responsibility on men to be the spiritual leaders of their families. It's time we got this "man thing" right! This study will help you redefine what it means to be a REAL man. Get ready friend...Neil's "Centurion Principle" book and this Huddle Playbook & Workbook will stir up within you Godly character, courage, and conviction. God has ordained YOU and this generation to reestablish the proper protocol of a man's authority at home, church, and in the marketplace. Are YOU ready to be a world changer? Today begins a new chapter of manhood as it was intended to be from the very beginning of creation. Saddle up cowboy! We have a mission from God to change this world one man at a time...one family at a time...one church at a time...one community at a time...and one country at a time. As in the Ana maniac cartoon, main character Pinky would say to his friend, "Gee, Brain, what are we going to do tonight?" Brain responds, "The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!" Let's do just that men! Let's take this world for the glory of God and let's have a ton of fun while we are at it (Matthew 28:19)! Dr. Mark Elliott, Pastor and Author resources like "Confessions of an Insignificant Pastor: What Pastors Wish They Could Tell You" and "Primary Purpose Small Groups" Small Groups ON Purpose Not ON Accident" can be seen at www.docmarkelliott.com and www.amazon.com.