What a great word! I love. The idea of venture. We are sent out after all, so it's quite a fitting thing for you to explore. I pray that God will give you the wisdom to know when to venture out! I'm not sure what the Hebrew or Greek equivalent of "Really, God?" would be, but I'm sure a lot of people int he Bible said something similar quite often!
My recent post Disconnecting: 3 Lessons from a Season of Rest

Interesting book David. I'll be on the look out for it. Does this book imply that Christianity is inherently political, or are you looking at political theology as a subset of theology?

I'm glad you explained the difference between happiness and joy. I tend to mix them up.

And by the way, your post is really well-written, so there's a compliment to hand on to when discouragement hits. :)

I wonder if tracts have ever had the opposite effect? You know, it's like this...
"Seeing this million dollar bill reminds me just how much I love money. Maybe I'll serve this instead of God..."

We saved one life today.

That last line is beautiful, "I was no longer sure that I’d get the high I wanted without being able to share it."

So true. I have nothing more to add. Only, I'll be thinking about this one for a while...

One of our church's elders attends our small group. We're always dumping grace, as in praying over the meal, on him. If he learns these strategies it could unhinge the balance of power in our small group...

Saying, "You hurt me," is incredibly difficult. I can't imagine saying that to certain people in my own life, especially because I fear they'll just make it worse and hurt me again. I'll be praying for you as you work through this season of your life.

Chad, God bless you for writing this! I've really tried to tackle this on my blog because I think it's so important. I think we place our pastors in very unhealthy positions, and they sometimes demand to be in these positions of power, isolation, and influence. There are plenty of ways that can fall to pieces.

I saw these patterns emerging when I worked at a church, and I just couldn't do it. Most churches want Jesus to be their pastor as they trust their pastors to organize activities, counsel them, teach them, and care for them. When these human beings fail, the churches feel betrayed and turn on them.

I could see myself crumbling in one way or another in that position, and so I write and speak when I can. I've had to find other ways to use my pastoral gifts outside of traditional pastoral ministry. I know there are some exceptions to what I've outlined, but there are so many well-meaning and naive seminary graduates who are stepping into the grind of pastoral ministry without a clue of what is waiting for them.

But what if I got a bunch of traditional Baptists clapping... on beat to boot. That's gotta be like a yellow belt with a brown stripe or something like that. Maybe a yellow belt with an extra weapon?