Author Archives: Michael D Johnson

I have a few tough questions for pastors.  Are you present in the lives of your people? Do they have to go looking for you or do you just show up in their lives? Are you kind of like the “out of sight, out of mind” part of their life? You know: do they seeContinue reading “Alone? Forgotten?”

Have you ever felt alone? I know the better question is: when was the most recent time you felt all alone? Was it last week? Yesterday? This morning? It is miserable to feel all alone. And maybe it hurts just as much or even more to be with and around people and still feel unheard,Continue reading “All alone”

There is a temptation to ties one’s worth into what one can produce. As if somehow what one does with their hands or with their time/gifting/energy etc defines them and their value. Indeed, for many of us, this is a temptation to consider that a person does not have quality of life unless they areContinue reading “What is my value?”

Have you ever had a weight on you that just kept pressing down with no relief in sight? When I work out in the gym and I get to the end of a set of reps, my arms or legs can begin shaking under the weight; but at least I know that I only haveContinue reading “Trying to bear up under it”

Have you ever had a weight on you that just kept pressing down with no relief in sight? When I work out in the gym and I get to the end of a set of reps, my arms or legs can begin shaking under the weight; but at least I know that I only haveContinue reading “Trying to bear up under it”

God is at work where you are right now. If you look around you and see the people, places and things, you can know for a fact that God is working right there in your midst. He is working there because He is always at work. He is working there because there is no placeContinue reading “Where you are right now”

I hope that your pastor is a great encourager and cheerleader in your life!  I personally try all the time to increase my availability and to improve my efforts at affirming and building up my family and friends and parishioners.  The truth is that many times I have dropped the ball. Many times I haveContinue reading “Who is encouraging you? Who is encouraging your pastor?”

Have you ever noticed someone around you “doing it wrong”? Or perhaps you realized along the way that you yourself were “doing it wrong”. This brief blog post is to get us thinking about what we should do when we see someone doing things in what we believe to be a wrong way. First ofContinue reading “Doing it wrong”

Numerous times I have found myself in discussions about pastoral ministry burnout and how to come out of it (not to mention of course what we might do to avoid it in the first place). Without oversimplifying it or making light of the pain of burnout I want to offer a few words regarding howContinue reading “An introduction to overcoming burnout”

Have you ever stopped to think about all the things we spend time worrying about and working on, and yet they really don’t matter? I have often asked myself the question “Ten thousand years from now, what will it matter?”. Somehow this question can help to put things in perspective. Most often the situation doesn’tContinue reading “Tending to things that matter”