Episode 123: Confessions of an "incompetent" minister (Casey Coston)

In 2 Corinthians 3:5, the apostle Paul writes: "Not that we are competent in ourselves...but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of the new covenant."Casey Coston is a veteran Church of Christ campus minister of more than 20 years. As he started his third decade in ministry, he took stock of his own "incompetence" and turned it into a book: Made Competent: A Story About Life in Ministry.In this episode, Casey touches on some of the biggest ministry challenges and shortcomings he's faced so far, including:Balancing the commission to "make disciples" (a slow process that happens with a few intimate relationships at a time) and the pressure to attract bigger and bigger crowds to ministry "events" Balancing the love the church needs and the love his own family needs (and how church and family often compete for his energy, focus and time)Handling disagreements and discord with church elders and membersCasey also uses his unique point of view working with emerging generations of believers and seekers to imagine:How evangelism is changing and must change to connect with emerging generationsHow legacy congregations and new congregations might adapt to changes in the culture (without changing the essence of the church and the gospel it practices and preaches)The kinds of ministers who will meet the next momentLinks for this episode:Made Competent: A Story About Life in Ministry by Casey CostonCampus for Christ national Church of Christ campus ministry networkEpisode 72 featuring Chris Buxton and Casey Coston on campus ministryDiscipling: The Multiplying Ministry by Milton JonesDonate to support this ministry of "information and inspiration" at christianchronicle.org/donateSend your comments, ideas, and suggestions to [email protected]