Pastor's Inbox

Is a woman always in sin if she chooses to have her children honor and respect their biological father over the stepfather when it's not outright sin?

The pastors answer these questions sent to the inbox:
What kind of distinction should there be in the Elder’s responsibilities toward members and non-members? What are the distinct privileges for members that should not apply to non-members?
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Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

The pastors answer these questions sent to the inbox:

Alongside this question from last time, - Is it appropriate for a church to baptize but not permit into membership? What is the relation between baptism and church membership?

#CBTSeminary
Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

The pastors answer this question sent to the inbox: 

Should there be separate criteria for admittance to the local church than there is to the universal church?

#CBTSeminary
Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

The pastors answer this question sent to the inbox:

Is it Biblical to have a probationary wait period or observation period for membership?

#CBTSeminary
Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

Pastor Joe and Pastor Lee answer the following question submitted to the inbox: "How can you determine whether to fold a plant or continue in faithful hope upon the Lord?"

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry

In this conversation, Pastors Lee McKinnon and Joe Wilson discuss the roles of deacons in distributing benevolence for the congregation and then describe how this is practiced in each of their churches.
Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry

In this conversation, Pastors Lee McKinnon and Joe Wilson discuss balancing the duty of giving to the needy, and wisely distributing church funds to visitors with various needs.

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education
CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry

In this conversation, Pastors Lee McKinnon and Joe Wilson demonstrate the duty of giving to the needy from Scripture.

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry

This question was submitted to the Pastor's Inbox:

“Do pastors have to tithe or is that a double tax?”

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

In this episode, the cohosts address how to preach about tithing so as not to come across as greedy on the one hand, and timid to address a biblical subject on the other.

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

After our initial recording on tithing, we had a fun discussion that was originally meant to be "off-air." But, since we thought that it could be useful to our listeners, we decided to publish the conversation. We hope this is helpful to you. 

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

In this episode, our cohosts demonstrate from Scripture the duty to contribute financially. Then they discuss whether or not "tithing" is a New Testament duty.

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

A CBTS Student submitted the following question to the Pastor's Inbox:

“How should pastors go about receiving a member who’s been excommunicated from another church claiming they were wrongly excommunicated?”

Confessional, Affordable, Theological Education

CBTS is a Confessional Reformed Baptist Seminary Providing Affordable Online Theological Education to Help the Church in its Calling to Train Faithful Men for the Gospel Ministry.

In this episode, the pastors address a question that was submitted to the inbox pertaining to pastoral succession plans. The question read as follows:

“How can a congregation/eldership set up a succession plan in the event of a tragedy where the main preaching pastor passes away or something similar? Often I see churches where the senior pastor is very loved and cherished and then he passes away and the congregation has no set plan of what to do. My thoughts especially go to examples where there’s a pastor with especially big shoes to fill like Al Martin or Walt Chsntry or something if you can somehow incorporate that."

In our last episode, we talked about different scenarios of sermon preparation and how long each of these different types of sermons might take to prepare. In this message, we want to discuss sermon preparation efficiency. So, brothers, what are some ways that preachers can reduce their sermon preparation time–or how can they become more efficient with the time they are spending in sermon preparation?

In this conversation, we will discuss sermon preparation. Particularly, we will discuss how long it takes to prepare a sermon. So, brothers, can you think of some different scenarios of sermons to be prepared and give an estimate of how long different messages take to prepare?

This is the final episode covering “the pastor’s children.” And in this conversation, we want to talk about family worship. So, pastors, what are some methods that pastors can use to teach their children scripture, and its teaching, as they’re growing up?

For our third episode on “the pastor’s children,” we take up the pressures of being a “pastor’s kid.” What particular challenges does being a Pastor’s kid bring–and how should a pastor lead his family in light of these challenges?

We continue our mini-series on “the pastor’s children.” And for this conversation, we want to encourage pastors who are burdened with the lost condition of their children. We want to especially encourage pastors who raised their children in accordance with Scripture’s model of parenting–yet their children have gone to the far country… What encouragements or advice do you brothers have to offer to pastors who have unbelieving children?

In this new series, we want to begin discussing the pastor’s children. And to do so, we want to address whether or not an unbelieving adult child disqualifies a pastor from ministry. So, brothers, must a pastor’s adult children–who are out of the home–be believers for a man to be a qualified elder?

In this last episode in this series called "a pastor's wife," Lee McKinnon and Joe Wilson answer the following questions:

How MUST a pastor protect & help his wife? How might a pastor encourage and further his wife's usefulness for Christ? Are there any special warnings a pastor might need with reference to caring for his wife?

n this episode of the Pastor's Inbox, Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon answer the following questions:

What are some of the peculiar trials of a pastor's wife? What advice would you offer to help a pastor's wife bear up under trials?

In this episode of the Pastor's Inbox, Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon answer the following questions:

How can a pastor's wife help her husband? How should she do so? Is there any advice or help that you can give?

In this episode, Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon answer the following questions:

Does A Pastor's Wife Have A Special Role In The Church?
What Are The Biblical Responsibilities Of A Pastor's Wife?

In this episode of the Pastor's Inbox, Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon differentiate between "explanation" and "application," and then give some advice regarding improvement in sermon application.

In this conversation, Pastors Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon discuss "sermon illustrations." They mention the purpose of illustration and give advice regarding improvement in illustrating. We hope this conversation will be useful for sermon composition!

In this conversation, Pastors Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon discuss "sermon introductions." They discuss the importance of introductions, the purpose of them, and how to improve at crafting them.

In this episode, Pastors Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon discuss "Freshness in Preaching." May the Lord use this episode to help any preachers who feel "in a rut," to experience afresh the high privilege of heralding God's word.

In this episode, Pastors Joe Wilson and Lee McKinnon answer a question submitted to the Pastor's Inbox about "resolving serious doctrinal error in the eldership." The original question included descriptive details and we have changed the wording of the question to better serve the needs of our listeners. We hope this conversation will be useful to all who will listen!

In this episode, the pastors answer the following questions:

• What is friendship, and why is it important for Christians to have friendships?

• Is it suitable for a pastor to have close friendships with members of the church -- some closer than others?

• How should a pastor cultivate & maintain friendships within the membership of the church?

In this episode, the pastors answer the following questions:

• What spiritual gifts are needed to help resolve conflicts in the church as a pastor? How can one practice developing these gifts?

• What should a pastor do when two church members or two families in the church are at odds?

• How can a pastor guard himself from being swept up in a church conflict while trying to help resolve it?

In this episode, the pastors answer the following questions:

• How do you keep your own heart in the work of ministry?

• How can you avoid falling into a routine or a rut?

In this episode, the pastors answer the following questions:

• What is meant by “keeping the hearts of the people” and how is this accomplished over the years?

• How do you keep the hearts of the people when decisions must be made that might not set well?

• How do you keep the hearts of the people when sin and problems in the life of a member arise?

In this episode, the pastors answer the following questions:

• Do you ever get discouraged in the work of ministry?

• What are some of the discouragements and causes of discouragement in ministry?

• How do you overcome discouragements in the work of ministry?

The pastors answer the following questions:

• What is contentment? Why is it important to be content in your ministerial context/situation?

• How would you advise a pastor to obtain or maintain contentment in his ministerial situation/circumstances?

The following question was submitted to the pastor's inbox:

• Should a pastor pursue beyond a standard MDiv? To what end or purpose? How should the church think about this?

The following question was submitted to the show:

• If a pastor has labored for some years but has never received an increase in his salary or even in other areas such as insurance packages, what should he do?