What Does it Mean to Be Pastored?
Life in the Local Church Belonging to a local Church of the Lord Jesus Christ entails all sorts of things: Membership, fellowship,...
top of page
Shepherding Thoughts
by Pastor Ben Francis
Welcome to Shepherding Thoughts: An inside look at a Southern Baptist Pastor's comments on navigating popular topics in Christianity and Religion.
Search
Ben Francis
- Apr 15
- 8 min
A Lament for the Hard Things: The Joy of Pastoral Ministry; A Follow-Up…
When I sat down to write the previous post, “A Lament for the Hard Things,” my goal was to share a tangible illustration of what I had...
109 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Dec 22, 2022
- 7 min
The Fragile Mission of the Church...
Can We Keep It? “The Church exists for a mission. Jesus did not give a mission to His church; He formed a Church for His mission…”. -...
134 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Sep 5, 2022
- 6 min
Is In-Person Preaching better than a Screen?
With the advent of new technology, new possibilities are introduced to the human experience. The rise of computers, the internet, and...
81 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Sep 1, 2022
- 11 min
Has Big Eva Made Too Much of her Human Leaders?
“Big Eva” …Big Evangelicalism. The structures and Institutions that make up American Evangelicalism with all of its power, prestige, and...
78 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Jul 5, 2022
- 6 min
The Pastor and the Dietitian...
Over the last year or so—as I have been reading and educating myself about food, diet, exercise, and the like— it occurs to me that...
75 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- May 11, 2022
- 4 min
Are Hymns Important? Yes!
We are living in an age when music is doing all sorts of things. Churches are attempting and trying a number of musical variations in an...
108 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Apr 3, 2022
- 7 min
The Commodification of Discipleship.
A building Crisis comes calling… Have you ever thought about how odd it is to walk into a grocery store? It is odd to walk into a store...
64 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Mar 23, 2022
- 3 min
Presidential Uncertainty...Again!
The SBC Presidential race heats up… It seems like the Southern Baptist Convention is gearing up for another fight for the Presidency....
80 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Mar 13, 2022
- 7 min
The Evangelical Industrial Complex and the Fall of Discipleship.
What Happened to Discipleship? The Evangelical Industrial Complex — “Big Eva” - Big Evangelicalism. If someone were to ask you, “What is...
272 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Mar 2, 2022
- 4 min
Elitism and Power in the SBC - A Follow-Up
Elitism and Power in the SBC - Part 2 In August of 2021, I wrote a post entitled, “Elitism and Power in the SBC.” It was meant to serve...
140 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Sep 21, 2021
- 6 min
Marks of Healthy Preaching
In a previous post, we discussed the pressing need for good, healthy, Biblical preaching. In this post, we want to outline some of the...
66 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Sep 20, 2021
- 8 min
What is Good Preaching? And Does it Really Matter?
Preaching is one of those words that, for the most part, makes us think of things like: Church, Sunday, a Preacher, etc. But, what makes...
131 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Aug 21, 2021
- 5 min
Who are Deacons to Be?
New Testament Deacons: Servants in the Household of God. Who are these Deacons to Be? -In the last post on Deacons, we looked at the...
66 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Aug 4, 2021
- 4 min
New Testament Deacons: Servants in the Household of God. Where Do Deacons Come From?
In our last post on Spiritual Leadership in the local church, we noted, “So, if Pastors are not expected to be managers and CEOs, who is...
102 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Jul 13, 2021
- 4 min
What Does an Elder Do?
New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds Part 3: What Does an Elder Do? From our brief survey of the 3 biblical titles used for the office...
68 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Jul 9, 2021
- 8 min
Who Can Be an Elder?
New Testament Elders: God's Shepherds Part 2: Who Can Be an Elder In our first post, we looked at what an Elder is according to the...
92 views0 comments
Ben Francis
- Jun 29, 2021
- 3 min
What/Who Are Church Elders?
New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds Part 1: What/Who is an Elder? In this series of posts, I want to explore what the Word of God says...
114 views0 comments
bottom of page