10 Things I've Learned in 4 Years of Pastoring (Part 2)

• Pastor Drew Rogers didn't know what expositional preaching was when he candidated at his church, and only moved toward it after reading Practical Wisdom for Pastors, picking First Samuel, and preaching a chapter a week — which he calls transformative because the message was no longer confined to his own understanding of a topic.
• Both hosts acknowledge topical preaching and teaching have their place, but argue a church member's consistent diet shouldn't be only topical, and that even topical study should be done textually.
• Drew's answer to the objection "how will you preach what the flock needs?" is that God knows better than the pastor does, and that verse-by-verse study has repeatedly landed on passages relevant to what the church was going through that week.
• On discipleship, Drew describes the moment at his desk when he became a fully committed disciple, points to Luke 14:26-27, and says the Great Commission is "go make disciples" — which includes helping less mature believers mature, not only reaching new converts.
• On waiting, Drew says Americans treat waiting as always negative, that waiting on God is a mark of maturity, and that waiting is neither inactivity nor constant busyness but standing in proximity to the King, listening, ready to move the moment he speaks.
• On learning, Drew says his closed-mindedness was a poor testimony, and Dillon McCurdy adds that when we lose grip on the fundamentals we start adding secondary and tertiary issues to the list and separating over them.
• On pastoring being life's greatest blessing, Drew qualifies it as tied to calling: whatever God has asked you to do right now is the greatest blessing, and stepping outside that will would make even pastoring a curse.

Take it further

1. Drew says expositional preaching kept the message from being confined to his understanding of a topic. Where has your own Bible study been limited to topics you already knew you wanted answers about?
2. Drew challenges laymen to pick a book of the Bible they're afraid of and dive in. Which book would that be for you, and what's kept you out of it?
3. Luke 14:26-27 was the passage that changed Drew's life. What would it look like for you to count the cost the way he describes?
4. The hosts say making disciples includes helping less mature believers mature, not just reaching new converts. Who is helping you mature, and who are you helping?
5. Drew describes waiting on God as standing near the King's throne, ready to move when he speaks — not idleness and not constant busyness. Which ditch do you tend to fall into?
6. Dillon asks how weak a faith must be if one conversation would sway it. When have you avoided a conversation you probably should have had, and why?