O. S. Hawkins - The Pastors Guide to Leading and Living

The Pastors Guide to
Leading and Living

Other books by O. S. Hawkins

When Revival Comes (with Jack R. Taylor)

After Revival Comes

Clues to a Successful Life

Where Angels Fear to Tread

Tracing the Rainbow Through the Rain

Revive Us Again

Unmasked!

Jonah: Meeting the God of the Second Chance

Getting Down to Brass Tacks

In Sheeps Clothing

Tearing Down Walls and Building Bridges

Moral Earthquakes and Secret Faults

Rebuilding: Its Never Too Late for a New Beginning

Money Talks: But What Is It Really Saying?

Shields of Brass or Shields of Gold?

Good News for Great Days

Drawing the Net

Culture Shock

High Calling, High Anxiety

The Question of Our Time

The Art of Connecting

GuideStones: Ancient Landmarks

The Pastors Primer

Antology

More Good News for Great Days

The Joshua Code

The Pastors Guide to
Leading and Living

O. S. Hawkins

2012 by O. S. Hawkins

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Published in Nashville, Tennessee, by Thomas Nelson. Thomas Nelson is a registered trademark of Thomas Nelson, Inc.

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Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are taken from THE NEW KING JAMES VERSION. 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ASV are from the Authorized Standard Version.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version.

The Living Bible. 1971. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are from HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-4016-7569-1

Printed in the United States of America

12 13 14 15 16 QG 6 5 4 3 2 1

My lifelong friend O. S. Hawkins provides one of the very best resources imaginable to guide pastors and church leaders towards excellence in ministry. His focus on authenticity and practical effective pastoral life and leadership will resonate with every servant of Christ. This book will be a model for Christian ministry for years to come.

Jack Graham, Pastor
Prestonwood Baptist Church

Dr. O. S. Hawkins combines the heart of a pastor and the skill of a great leader. In this powerful new book he provides pastors with a wealth of both spiritual and practical advice. He has distilled a lifetime of pastoral experience and reflection into one unprecedented volume. Every pastor needs this book, and should keep it within a short reach.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., President
Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Louisville, Kentucky

vi

To the pastor at the crossroads who labors with dedication and determination in that seemingly out of the way place where he often may wonder if he is forgotten. To you is given an incredible promiseShepherd the flock of God which is among you... and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away (1 Peter 5:2, 4).

Contents

In a myriad of ways this pastors primer you hold in your hand encapsulates more than a quarter of a century of my pastoral ministry. This journey took me from the little town of Hobart out on the southwestern plains of Oklahoma to the concrete canyons of downtown Dallas. It has been my joy and privilege to be called pastor to four wonderful congregations of believers across the years. While at the First Baptist Church of Hobart, Oklahoma, I learned that the pastorate is in the people business and that life is about relationships. While at the First Baptist Church of Ada, Oklahoma, those good and godly people with a rich pulpit heritage inspired me to become an expository preacher. While serving the First Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, for fifteen years, I had the privilege of being on the cutting edge of church growth and for that decade and a half watched God do what few local churches have been able to see and experience. Then, at the First Baptist Church in Dallas, I found anew the stewardship of pastoral authority and the respect that goes with heritage and history.

Along the way of my personal journey, I have been fortunate to have had two remarkable mentors in ministry. Dr. W. Fred Swank, my father in the ministry who led me to Christ as a seventeen-year-old young man, consistently modeled the pastors heart before me and was my constant source of encouragement, correction, and counsel. Then, after Dr. Swanks death, Dr. W. A. Criswell adopted me as his own. He took me under his wing and into his heart during my days in Fort Lauderdale, and then it was my good fortune to pastor the same people he had pastored for fifty years. He was my biggest asset and greatest encouragement during my Dallas days. Both of these pastors, like righteous Abel, though dead still speak today through much of my own philosophy of ministry that is found in this volume.

The journey throughout this book will take us through twenty-six chapters. Each chapter contains a PowerPoint where we will deal with the power of the subject at hand. There is also a PracticalPoint where we will seek to put our hands on the handle of how to do ministry at the chapters particular point of interest. This is followed by a PressurePoint. Here we will be cautious of various things to avoid and seek to be watchful of potential problems that could possibly arise at the point of the particular chapters topic. Then we will come to a PulpitPoint where we will establish a biblical basis, using an expository sermon outline for the chapters primary subject. Finally, each chapter will conclude with a PersonalPoint at which the reader will have the opportunity to make personal applications for future considerations.

As the years unfold before us, it is my prayer that some young pastor out there somewhere, perhaps going to his first pastorate, will find some nugget of truth and help from these pages in order that he might, like David, lead his people according to the integrity of his heart, and [guide] them by the skillfulness of his hands (Ps. 78:72).

The Pastor and His Purpose

PowerPoints

The pastor has been given by the Sovereign Lord the highest calling in Gods economy. It is not a vocation to be chosen among several options. It is a divine, supernatural calling from the Lord. Jesus put it thus, You did not choose Me but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit (John 15:16). Paul said, I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power (Eph. 3:7). The pastor has a special calling from God and a special gift that is given to him in order to perform the work of ministry. Gods words to Jeremiah are as poignant and personal to a God-called pastor as any to be found anywhere. He said, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations (Jer. 1:5). I have always considered this one of the most awesome thoughts a pastor could have. Think about it: before I was formed in my mothers womb, God knew me! But that is not all. God set me apart for a special calling and ordained me to do his will. Nothing nobler could be said of a pastor than what Paul said of David in his Pisidian Antioch address. He said that David served Gods purpose [calling, will] in his own generation, and he fell asleep (Acts 13:36 NIV). Gods purpose is for each of us to find the will of God for our lives and then to do it.