Books Recommended by Nick

• Exceptional Selling by Jeff Thull. This is a great book on how to meet people where they are and effectively provide the solution that best fits there situation. Jeff gives principles on how to have a strategic conversation with someone that creates a win, win situation for both people
• How the Mighty Fall by Jim Collins. Jim gives a descriptive overview of how some of the greatest businesses in history have crumbled over time. From Bank of America, Lehman brothers, Zenith and many others. He likens there demise to a disease that if discovered early enough can be cured vs. catching it to late and there being a slim chance for recovery. Through his research he outlines how to recognize the stages of decline so that we can recognize them, make the adjustments and continue to grow.

Articles on the Minister

• The People Factor by Nicholas Smith
• Crash Dummies: An anonymous article on being fired
• Pressures on the Pastor by David Fletcher
• Scott Barfoot's research project on Leader-follower Trust. XPastor fosters solid research on church ministry.
• Making a New Beginning with Your Peopleby Don Bubna
• When Is It Time to Make a Change? by Don Bubna
• Maximizing the Opportunity to Interact with People by Don Bubna
• A Healthy Farewell by Don Bubna
• Pressures on the Pastor by David Fletcher
• Case-Studies of Policy and Vision Implementation by the Executive Pastors 355 pages, by David Fletcher
• Matt Weaver on Searching for Treasure in the Wilderness, about peacemaking in the local church. See also Peacemaker Ministries.
• Dr. Dan Wallace's critique on Misquoting Jesus, a book on textual criticism that became a bestseller!
• Dan Southern, former President of the American Tract Society, writes for XPastor on Leadership on Evangelism

Post a question about the Minister Function in The XP-Forum

Contact Nicholas

Take the Indicator

Nicholas Smith
Executive Assistant Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church, Lindenwold, New Jersey

Bethany Baptist was featured in an XPastor case study, "A Church and XP for Urban Life: Bethany Baptist Church and Nicholas Smith, a 20 Year Transition." Bethany has over 16,500 members.

Contact Nicholas

Defining the Minister

The Minister conducts weddings & funerals, counsels and disciples members, teaches a class or small group. Some of these activities are done so that the Senior Pastor is free to pursue other ministries.

The Minister may coordinate cases of church discipline with the governing board and may fill the pulpit when the Senior Pastor is away. The Minister sees the Senior Pastor as the spiritual leader, communicates with the Senior Pastor about church ministry and often serves the Senior Pastor by “taking things off Senior Pastor's plate.”

Many XPs don't do a great amount of direct ministry. On the XP-Indicator, many XPs are below the baseline. Why is this for so? Direct ministry is generally in just one area, one slice of the church. Many Assistant and Associate Pastors spend huge amounts of time in “one slice,” such as counseling or teaching.

The XP generally doesn't have enough time to devote to one slice of church life. The XP is reviewing the entire ministry, a shepherd of the entire congregation.

5 Key Themes

• Counsel & disciple
• Perform weddings & funerals
• Preach
• Serve the Senior Pastor & see the Senior Pastor as the spiritual leader
• Teach a class or small group

5 Attitudes & Abilities

• Accepting and loving
• Helping people be whole and healthy
• “I care for you!”
• Neither conservative nor liberal
• “Sure, I have time to serve you”