Blog Administrator, Author at GProCommission

May 16, 2017

The Secret to Longevity in Marriage and Ministry

On May 5, 1959, two sweethearts exchanged “I Do’s” in a small church, in a remote barrio (countryside) north of the Philippines. This year, 2017, they celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary. They also celebrate the same number of years in service to God’s work. This couple is Met and Ina Castillo, my dear parents. Dad is now 82, while Mom is 80, yet they are still active and passionate about the ministry. Wherever they go, people will often ask,“What is your secret?” They have much advice to give, but one ingredient that I have had the privilege to witness growing […]

May 11, 2017

Liberating Ministry from the Success Syndrome Parts 1 & 2

By KEVIN HALLORAN via Leadership Resources In his early life as a pastor, Kent Hughes faced a personal crisis. He seemed to be doing everything right in ministry, but his church wasn’t growing—at least not compared to the church across town. This lack of ‘success’ ate at him and made his efforts seem worthless. What else do I need to do to be successful? Read more at Leadership Resources’ blog.

May 9, 2017

Christ-like Leadership (It’s all about Christ-likeness)

As we reflect back on the GProCongress in 2016, we recall that pastoral health is key to church health, societal health and ultimately transformation. It was a running undercurrent or theme to the GProCongress. Why? Because the quality of our influence hinges on being a holistically healthy pastor. During the parallel session on Spiritual Engagement, we hammered this theme hard, digging ever deeper into the importance of what it means to be a Christ-like leader! It’s so pivotal that the movement I’m a part of, highlights it as our second of four core outcomes. Even the Lausanne Movement in […]

May 4, 2017

Serving Contextual Communities: The Bond Model

By Dr. Riad Kassis via International Council for Evangelical Theological Education Are our seminaries conscious that they are functioning in societies that have various crucial needs? Are our educational systems and curricula geared towards meeting these needs? How are we equipping our students and future leaders to face the communities that are affected by war, poverty, disorder, and disaster? These are some of the issues that I will attempt to address. Read more at ICETE‘s library.

May 2, 2017

Engaging Community Leaders of a Marginalised Group

By Rev. Dr. Rachel Rajagopal In the last three months, I hosted meetings with various groups of Garifuna leaders from the Atlantida region of Honduras. My stipulation to the Garifuna community leader who was helping me coordinate these meetings was very clear: only those aged 21 years – 50 years were to be carefully selected and invited. They needed to be current or emerging leaders in the community. After much prayer, I decided to conduct meetings with four different groups: Single female leaders Young adult leaders Single male leaders Young adult married couple leaders Among the 8,000 Garifunas in one […]

April 27, 2017

Money and the Bible

The Table Podcast featuring Dr. Darrell Bock and Bill Hendricks via Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership and Cultural Development at Dallas Theological Seminary “Today we are going to talk about money. We’re not going to ask for money, but we’re going to talk about what does the Bible tell us about money, and let’s start with the fact that a very oft quoted, we might say misquoted, passage is in 1 Timothy, which many people believe says money is the root of all evil. Tell us more.” To hear the whole podcast, visit The Table podcast.

April 25, 2017

Do we need a Special Ethics for the Last Days?

By Thomas Schirrmacher and Thomas K. Johnson Via World Reformed Fellowship Churches, evangelists, and even politicians love to base their imperatives on the argument that we are living in the Last Days. And speculation that we can know that we are truly in the last hours or weeks seems to recur every few years. But is that biblical? Read more at World Reformed Fellowship’s archives.

April 22, 2017

Takeshi Takazawa Prayer Update

One of the core values of the GProCommission is exchanging encouragement and a vital way we encourage one another is through prayer. For many of us, a very real battle began at the conclusion of the Congress and is still ongoing, like our wonderful GProCongress morning MC, Brother Takeshi Takazawa, who has been grappling with severe kidney issues since the Congress ended. He and his wife Dorrie, have been grateful for your ongoing prayers and gave their kind permission to share the most recent update. Please take a moment to pray for them but you may also find yourself encouraged […]

April 21, 2017

How do you dream bigger?

Pastor J, a former family court probation officer, could be enjoying his retirement years by taking a well-deserved rest, perhaps using his nest egg for a once in a lifetime getaway. This man of God, however, is currently studying at Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) and investing his time, energy, money and fundraising efforts into ministry. An evangelist involved in several ministry streams including youth and prison outreach, Pastor J first heard about the Congress while attending chapel at DTS. The chapel speaker for that day “happened” to be Dr. Ramesh Richard. Pastor J asked Dr. Richard if there would be […]

April 20, 2017

Theological Engagement in Pastoral Training

Theological Engagement in Pastoral Training (with special reference to Paul) by Dr Willem G. Semmelink Michael Rogers (2015) [1] argues in his dissertation that local churches have the primary responsibility for training future pastors. If this be the case, then the church should play a major role in the student’s formation and preparation for the ministry. In many seminaries, work-integrated learning is brought into the curriculum to ensure that students are prepared for the responsibilities in the ministry practice. In Pastoral Training, the emphasis should be on both the scientific and the relationship, the objective and subjective. Theology cannot just be […]