16 Lessons From Sixteen Years Of Ministry

These articles gather together lessons learned across sixteen years of full time pastoral ministry. They are not theories developed in study alone, nor reflections written at a comfortable distance from real life. They have been shaped through sermons that felt weak, meetings that felt heavy, criticism that stung, and moments of quiet joy when Christ proved faithful again.

Many of these lessons were learned slowly. Some were learned the hard way. They arose through ordinary shepherding, through family life under pressure, through conflict, through weariness, and through seasons where the Lord was patiently reshaping my assumptions about success, identity, and endurance.

My hope is not to prescribe a method, but to offer settled counsel under Scripture. If these reflections steady younger pastors, guard a family, strengthen a weary shepherd, or remind any servant that Christ loves His church more than we ever could, then they will have served their purpose.