A Word to the Wise: www.KarlVaters.com
 
Here’s a simple piece of advice for my generation of seasoned pastors. If you want to make your Sunday messages more effective for how people live and listen today, do this one thing: Stop making your sermon notes rhyme or alliterate.
 
Rhymes and alliterations used to make speakers seem credible, authoritative, and prepared. That’s no longer the case.
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Hey Boomer, Stop Making Your Sermon Notes Rhyme Or Alliterate, Karl Vaters, 2.17.25

A Word to the Wise: Evangelism for Everybody
 
My mentor in the ministry, Matt Queen, has a simple evangelism strategy that anyone can do, which begins by asking, “Has anyone told you God loves you today?” Inevitably, the answer is no, at which point you can ask to be the first and say, “God loves you so much that He sent His one and only Son to live a perfect life for you, die a sacrificial death for you, rise victoriously for you, and save you if you turn to Him in faith. Would you like to hear more about that today?” If they do, go for it. If not, you leave them with a gospel tract, information about your church, or even your contact information if they have questions later.
 
I began sharing that strategy from the pulpit and during other teaching opportunities, and our people got after it. In fact, during Easter, one of our members went to the grocery store next to the church and asked the cashier if anyone had told her God loves her, and the cashier said, “Actually, yes! Someone from that church (she pointed toward our building) was just here and told me, and I plan on coming this Sunday.” Story after story started coming in, and fast. I’d often share some of them from the pulpit with encouragement to keep up the good work.
 
By the end of the year, we were averaging almost 400 people in gathered worship and had seen over 80 decisions of some kind. Now, instead of starting with a handful of folks committing to a big training and weekly visitation, we have hundreds of folks taking the gospel with them as they go, wherever they go, and God is blessing their faithfulness abundantly.
Matt Henslee, Pastor, Plymouth Park Baptist Church, Irving, TX, Baptist Press, 2.13.25, Evangelism for Everybody, https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/bptoolbox/evangelism-for-everybody/

A Word to the Wise: Kie Bowman
 
A visionary leader can see a future others haven’t considered and can mobilize people to accomplish what they would have never attempted on their own. As we have often heard, “People don’t follow a vision. People follow a leader with a vision.”

Kie Bowman, 2.11.25, Baptist Press, How Pastors Cast Vision to Create a Culture of Prayer

A Word to the Wise from Dr. Jim Shaddix
 
When asked to give advice to young pastors, Shaddix told SEBTS, “Everything comes back to the Word. We have to trust the Word to do its work. … Depend on that, start there, and stay there and trust that.
 
“Trust that to be where your content comes from, where your authority comes from, where your power comes from. Everything comes back to the Word, and I know it begins to sound trite when you’re constantly saying just preach the Word. But the reality is that’s what Paul said to do.”
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2.3.25, Jim Shaddix, ‘champion of prayer and expository preaching’ dies at 64

A Word to the Wise by Mac Lake
 
Leadership development is not fast, easy, and linear.
 
Top 3 Challenges (Reasons pastors are not discipling leaders)

1. Fear
2. Inexperience
3. Pride (an unwillingness to train others because of a desire for control)

 
You get to choose your pain – the current pain of a lack of leaders, etc., or the pain of a leadership pipeline.
 
Use a Transformational Approach to Leadership Development
 
Dumping information doesn’t produce transformation.
 
Think smaller, not bigger, slower, not faster.
 
Strategy:
Individual development: Prepare
Team Development: Equip
Organizational Development: Inspire
 
Triad of Development That Leads to Transformation:
Knowledge, Experience, Coaching
Mac Lake, 1.28.25, Georgia Baptist AMS Retreat

A Word to the Wise: What’s your purpose, your God-given mission where you serve?
 
No one drifts toward their purpose, only away from it.
 
Like a ship at sea, staying on course requires constant correction.
The difference between those who fulfill their purpose and those who don't isn't in having fewer distractions - it's in having a disciplined approach to realignment.
The best leaders understand that this discipline comes from three things: the confidence to begin, the commitment to continue, and the consistency to adjust course when they've strayed.
While many have the confidence to start, fewer commit to regular reflection. And fewer still maintain that commitment when the winds blow hard.
One leader we know keeps a simple note on his desk: "Is what I'm doing right now moving me closer to or further from my purpose?"
It's not about never getting knocked off course - it's about how quickly you notice and correct for it.
When was the last time you checked your heading?
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Admired Leadership Field Notes, 1.18.25, Drift Demands Redirection

A Word to the Wise: Trevin Wax
 
Joy suffers whenever we are too big and God is too small.
The fuel of joy is gratitude, and the fuel of gratitude is wonder.
But wonder gets stifled by entitlement, and gratitude disappears when wonder dies.
 
We cannot be truly grateful for fleeting moments of happiness if we believe we deserve each and every one of them. We must see ourselves as graced before we can be grateful.
 
It is only when God is at the center of our existence, when He is big and we are small, when we see ourselves as ordinary people in a world of extraordinary marvels – only then do we discover the joy of gratitude.
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Trevin Wax, 1.19.16, Maybe You’re Unhappy Because You’re Too Big and Bored

A Word to the Wise: by D. L. Moody
 
“A holy life will produce the deepest impressions.
Lighthouses blow no horns; they only shine.
Confessions should only extend to parties sinned against.
Look out for the devil at the foot of the mountain.
If you want to get hold of an audience, aim at the heart; and there is nothing that will warm up the heart like the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
The Life of Dwight L. Moody, by W. R. Moody

A Word to the Wise
 
“The next time you scratch your head while trying to figure out what is causing a lack of urgency or action, consider that the team may be waiting for a decision or strategy. Now, do your best to give it to them.”
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Admired Leadership Field Notes, 12.27.24, The Signs a Team Is Waiting for a Decision or Strategy

A Word to the Wise from Dan Reiland:
 
The main reason people don’t become church members is they are afraid you want more from them than you want for them.
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Dan Reiland, The Main Reason Folks Don’t Become Church Members, read 12.16.24