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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.
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On the Importance of New Testament Elder Leadership.
Why Shared Leadership is Essential for Healthy Churches Churches are fascinating creatures. Churches exist solely through the atoning...
Ben Francis
Mar 104 min read
159 views
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A Pastoral Guide to Preparing for Communion
Communion ; the Lord’s Supper ; also called the Eucharist . ** A Note upfront : This guide represents the Baptistic tradition and...
Ben Francis
Dec 15, 20248 min read
80 views
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Give us Preachers, not Shepherds!
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do...
Ben Francis
Jul 12, 20246 min read
134 views
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What Are Pastors Doing During the Week? 10 Things...
I often get a lot of questions about how I spend my time as a Pastor. People are understandably curious about what I do. Some people are...
Ben Francis
Mar 18, 20247 min read
260 views
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How God is Saving Me from Preaching
Thoughts from a growing Pastor-Shepherd… I'm a Pastor-Shepherd, and I preach and teach every week; multiple times each week. And by God’s...
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20237 min read
361 views
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An Open Letter to the Person County Library, and Person County Government from her Pastor-Shepherds.
An Open Letter to the Person County Library, and Person County Government from her Local Pastor-Shepherds. On behalf of the members of...
Ben Francis
Jul 10, 20239 min read
1,239 views
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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,...
Ben Francis
Apr 28, 20238 min read
204 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Apr 15, 20238 min read
130 views
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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…”. -...
Ben Francis
Dec 22, 20227 min read
139 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 5, 20226 min read
184 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 1, 202211 min read
102 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Jul 5, 20226 min read
77 views
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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...
Ben Francis
May 11, 20224 min read
116 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Apr 3, 20227 min read
66 views
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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....
Ben Francis
Mar 23, 20223 min read
83 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Mar 13, 20228 min read
1,041 views
1 comment
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...
Ben Francis
Mar 2, 20224 min read
146 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20216 min read
68 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20218 min read
173 views
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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...
Ben Francis
Aug 21, 20215 min read
66 views
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