by Stephen Suffron | Mar 15, 2016 | Leadership, Ministry
This week was the last Sunday of a six-week discipleship course on the Holy Spirit. After starting in week one with an eight-member class (huge!), tonight only my wife and one deacon showed up. Now, the weather has been terrible all week and we were under a tornado...
by Stephen Suffron | Mar 1, 2016 | Leadership, Ministry
Three to four years. According to research by Thom Rainer, that is how long, on average, a pastor stays at a church. And since that figure is an average, that means there are great numbers of pastors whose tenure is two years or less. In the small and country church...
by Stephen Suffron | Feb 16, 2016 | Ministry
About a week after we arrived at our new pastorate in Stephens, Arkansas (pop. 891), my parents came up to visit and to help care for our newborn daughter. That weekend, I took my dad on a walking tour of the town (it didn’t take long). As we were passing by...
by Stephen Suffron | Feb 2, 2016 | Leadership, Ministry
The first time I spoke to someone from First Baptist in Stephens, Arkansas, was while I was driving in the car with my wife Liz. When we got off the phone, I told her, “I think they are really serious about us.” Her reply: “They can be serious all...
by Stephen Suffron | Jan 26, 2016 | Faith & Heritage, Leadership, Ministry, Missions
I invite you to imagine with me a country with a rich Christian heritage. Old church buildings dot the landscape, once filled to capacity but now home to a dozen members in one building, a couple dozen in another, perhaps a hundred in the larger churches. These...
