Welcome
Hey everyone, welcome to our blog.
Quite a bit of my ministry energy has been directed toward the people in the pews—the end user. But God’s been moving in my heart these last number of years and has been directing my ministry energy toward pastors and ministry leaders. With that vision in mind, I’m excited to dialog with you here on Straight Up—a blog by pastors for pastors. The content of this blog is for those who labor faithfully week after week in the local church—full time pastors not least. We post regularly about preaching, leadership, vision casting, staff management, theology, and just about anything else related to pastoral ministry. Blogging along with me is Gerald Hiestand, and my son Luke. Both guys serve at my home church, Harvest Bible Chapel (see below for a little bit about Gerald and Luke).
Cumulatively, we’ve been in ministry over thirty years now, and we certainly don’t have it all figured out. Much of what we’ve learned, we’ve learned from fumbling around and falling over. But by God’s grace we have learned a few things. We want to share some of that here, in hopes that it’ll help keep you out of some of the ditches we’ve been in. As they say, experience is an expensive teacher; let someone else pay the bill!
Glad you’ve joined us, and hope you stick around.
For Him!
James
About the Contributors
James MacDonald. James is the founding pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel. He received his Masters Degree in 1988 from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois and his Doctorate from Phoenix Seminary in 1996. He and his wife, Kathy, have three children: Luke, Landon, and Abigail. James’ teaching ministry can be heard daily on Walk in the Word. He has authored many books, including his most recent, When Life Is Hard (Moody 2010). See the writings page for more information on James’ books and articles.
Gerald Hiestand. Gerald serves at Harvest Bible Chapel as an Adult Ministries Pastor and the Director of the Foundation (Adult Christian Education). He and his wife, Jill, have three children, Jake, Nate and Ella. Gerald has degrees from Moody Bible Institute and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and currently serves as the executive director of The Society for the Advancement of Ecclesial Theology. He has written a number of scholarly articles (Trinity Journal, Westminster Journal) and has a research interest in historical soteriology. Gerald is also the author of Raising Purity: Nurturing the Image of God in the Heart of Your Child (Ryver Media, 2008).
Luke MacDonald. Luke serves at Harvest Bible Chapel as a Pastor of Student Ministries and a Director of Worship. He and his wife Kristen welcomed their first child in February, 2009. Luke is a graduate of Moody Bible Institute, and has released a CD project with harvestsongs, entitled Joining In. Luke enjoys knitting, equestrian polo (you know, the kind with horses), and synchronized swimming.
Comments
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Blessings everyone!
