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...
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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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Ben Francis
Mar 187 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20237 min read
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...
360 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 10, 20239 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Apr 28, 20238 min read
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,...
201 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Apr 15, 20238 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Dec 22, 20227 min read
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…”. -...
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Ben Francis
Sep 5, 20226 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Sep 1, 202211 min read
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...
98 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 5, 20226 min read
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...
77 views0 comments
Ben Francis
May 11, 20224 min read
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...
116 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Apr 3, 20227 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Mar 23, 20223 min read
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....
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Ben Francis
Mar 13, 20228 min read
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...
826 views1 comment
Ben Francis
Mar 2, 20224 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Sep 21, 20216 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20218 min read
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...
167 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Aug 21, 20215 min read
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...
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Ben Francis
Aug 4, 20214 min read
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...
103 views0 comments
Ben Francis
Jul 13, 20215 min read
The Leadership of New Testament Elders
New Testament Elders: God’s Shepherds From our brief survey of the 3 biblical titles used for the office of Elder, we can put together a...
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