Blog - Dr Ray Gentry.com

Ministry. Leadership. Mission

Book Review – Pastor Search: Finding God’s Man For Your Church, Mark Elliott

3/8/2022

Mark Elliott has written a wonderful, practical resource for AMSs to use to train and coach Pastor Search Committees. He has over 40 years of ministry experience, including serving as a DOM/AMS since 1993. He has just concluded 21 years of exemplary service leading the Heartland Church Network, Omaha, NE.

This book is a major editing and expansion of the process Mark has used for two decades assisting churches in transition. It includes the practical application of the principles he found in scripture and examples from several churches whose search teams have used the more robust process these principles helped him to define.

Book Review - Gospel-Driven Ministry: An Introduction to the Calling and Work of a Pastor, Jared Wilson

1/3/2022

Happy New Year!

I hope you had a refreshing break during the holidays.

As I mentioned last month, I plan to share reviews of books from time to time that have been meaningful to me that I believe may be helpful to you. Today, I want to introduce you to Jared Wilson’s new book, Gospel-Driven Ministry: An Introduction to the Calling and Work of a Pastor.

Book Review - Didn’t See It Coming, by Carey Nieuwhof

12/1/2021

I believe hearing, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating on God’s Word is most important for Associational Mission Strategists – as it is for all Christ-followers. But as leaders of leaders, I agree with the old adage: leaders are readers. Leaders should be consistently, humbly, seeking to learn and improve their leadership. My mantra is: Anything can be improved except the Bible. If we are not stretching ourselves with input from wise leaders, we are not being good stewards of the roles where God has placed us.

The Importance of a Daily Quiet Time

11/1/2021

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! Psalm 46: 1, 10 (NKJV)

Godly, effective associational leaders are spiritual leaders, walking with the Lord in His Word and in prayer daily. They are feeding themselves, dependent on and trusting in the Lord, His Word, and His Spirit more than they lean on their own understanding (Prov. 3:5-6).

Assisting Churches Without Pastors

10/4/2021

Associational Mission Strategists (AMSs) are often asked to assist churches when one of their pastors leaves their church. They may be asked to fill the pulpit for one or more Sundays, train the Pastor Search Committee, and/or recommend Pulpit Supply, Interim Pastor Candidates, or Transitional Interim Pastor Candidates. They may even be asked to serve as the Interim Pastor, although some associations do not allow that option.

How To Lead Effective Key Leader Training for Your Churches

8/30/2021

I am aware that some are of the persuasion that hosting conferences and workshops are passe. I am not saying every AMS needs to do these conferences. I will say that you need to know how God has gifted you and operate out of your spiritual gifts as much as possible. My gifts are administration, exhortation, and shepherding. Therefore, organizing Pastors Conferences, and other conferences and workshops comes relatively easy for me, whereas for others, it would be very difficult. However, if you are not gifted in this area, and yet you see the need to offer what we are talking about, pray and ask the Lord to raise up someone gifted in administration who can help you host a training conference with excellence.

How Do You Measure Success as an AMS?

4/5/2021

For some time now, I have noticed that many of my pastors are discouraged and sometimes depressed because the usual metrics of ministry “success” – increasing numbers of bodies, budgets, and baptisms – are not happening. In fact, those numbers – with the possible exception of budgets – are not only not increasing, but they are generally decreasing.

In “The Gospel-Driven Church,” Jared Wilson, Author in Residence, Midwestern Seminary and Associate Professor of Pastoral Ministry, Spurgeon College, Kansas City, MO, challenges churches to measure more than “bodies and budgets” because there is nothing uniquely Christian about these types of increases. He says businesses grow in these ways. Heretical ministries grow in these ways. I think he makes a valid point.

The Importance of Pastor Peer Learning Groups

3/8/2021

Many of you already know the importance of pastors gathering with pastors in small groups for peer learning. I learned the importance of it from some of you several years ago. But I believe there are a number of Associational Mission Strategists (AMSs) who do not have such groups in their associations yet. I encourage you to prayerfully consider implementing such a ministry. It has been very well received in my association.

Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another. Pr. 27:17 (CSB)

Peer learning groups – usually of 3-5, though that number can vary – are wonderful ways to experience and apply Pr. 27:17 if the focus is on sharpening one another spiritually, emotionally, and missionally.

Why are most AMSs over 50?

10/5/2020

Gray hair is a glorious crown; it is found in the ways of righteousness. Pr. 16:31(CSB)

According to a 2017 AMS Compensation Study, 88% of associational leaders are 50 or older. Well over half are 60+. Participants in the study age 50-59 made up 32% of the total; age 60-69, 45%; age 70+, 11%.

The Future of Associations (Part 2)

6/1/2020

Today I continue a series of excerpts from my chapter with this same title, “The Future of Associations,” in a new book SBCAL has coming out this summer published by Ranier Publishing, The Baptist Association: Assisting Churches. Advancing the Gospel.

Pastors and Churches Should be Committed
Moving associational ministry to the next level takes not only character, collaborative leadership, and commitment from the AMS, but commitment from the pastors. As Pastor Aaron Menikoff wrote on the Baptist 21 site,
“To put it bluntly, many church pastors have lost an interest in local, Baptist associational life. We are enamored of the state and national work while we ignore the unglamorous work of serving churches who minister in our own backyard.
Why does this matter? Because our denominational life is like a tree. The national entities are the branches spreading across the globe. The state conventions are the trunk, holding the branches in place. But the local associations are the roots. It’s at the associational level that every pastor can be involved. Like a church member who leaves it to the paid staff to do the ministry, I wonder if some pastors have left it to paid staff to do the work of the association.” [i]