Emphasis Preaching Journal

In a recent study of pastors able to turn congregations around it was noted that there was a common denominator in many of the redevelopment pastors. The common denominator had nothing to do with seminary training, grades, books studied or anything else. It had little to do with eloquence or their type on a personality test. The common denominator was that most pastors able to truly transform a ministry had been through some type of life changing trauma -- a divorce, the death of a spouse or child, a serious illness, or some other time of suffering. The suffering had not broken their spirit but introduced them to Jesus in a new way. And in meeting Jesus in their suffering they had come out more aware of their weakness made perfect in suffering and more powerfully able to communicate God's grace.