Pastors' Talk

How much should churches pay their pastors? How can they even find the answer to that question? Should a pastor ever ask for a raise?Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever and Jamie Dunlop about these questions.

Firing someone is almost always hard, perhaps especially in the church. In this episode of Pastors Talk, Jonathan chats with Mark about this difficult topic, one that Mark says is a personal weakness of his.

In a growing church, nominating elders can be hard. After all, people might not know the man. They might never have heard him teach. So what’s a church to do?Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever about raising up elders as a church’s culture changes.

How transparent should pastors be with their congregation as they think about pursuing other jobs? As it turns out, Mark Dever and Hershael York offer different counsel on this. Jonathan Leeman chats with them about the wisdom of different approaches.

There’s nothing in the Bible about who should chair—lead—elders’ meetings. But the role and responsibility of the elder chairman is nonetheless very important. Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever, Ken Barbic, and Isaac Adams.

Surely you’ve heard someone ask, “But pastor, why should I be baptized?”In this episode of Pastors Talk, Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever and Bobby Jamieson about that important question.

In this episode of Pastors Talk, Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever about one of the pastor’s most important jobs: preparing his people for eternity.

This year has been hard, but now it’s finally (nearly) over. In this final Pastors Talk of 2020, Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever about the highs and lows of this particular year.

Are you looking for books to read this holiday season? Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever about a bunch of fun biographies.

Among the many things 2020 has made more complicated, chief among them is caring for members who are unwilling to come back to church.

For years, certain churches and ministries have referred to “virtual church” or “attending church online.” This year of COVID-19—the “anti-gathering virus,” as Mark puts it in this episode—has made such phrases even more popular.

Paul says pastors must be “well thought of by outsiders.” But Jesus says we’re “blessed” when others speak evil about us, even falsely.What do we do with this? How much should a pastor care about his reputation?

Episode 149 explained what “cleaning the rolls” means, and why pastors should lead their churches to do it. Episode 150 continues the conversation, but focuses on how to actually get it done.Jonathan Leeman, Mark Dever, and Matt Schmucker discuss.

Some churches report hundreds of members, with dozens in attendance. These churches need to “clean their rolls.”Jonathan Leeman chats with Mark Dever and Matt Schmucker about what that means and why churches should do it.

Healthy churches plant churches. But how? What causes a church to “bubble over”? Here’s one way.

Broadly speaking, “theonomy” is the theological persuasion that civil societies ought to be governed by the Mosaic Law. In this episode of Pastors Talk, Jonathan Leeman and Mark Dever chat with T. David Gordon about the errors and appeal of theonomy.

We just released a new Journal: Pastoring through Political Turmoil. In this episode of Pastors Talk, Jonathan chats with Mark about the Journal in particular and the topic of pastoring through an election season in general.