Pastor As Prophet-Shepherd

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel...
Galatians 1:6

...my little children, for who I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
Galatians 4:19

A ministry that is all prophetic all the time will wear down a congregation. It will eventually defeat a congregation. A ministry that is all sympathetic all the time will coddle the congregation straight into the deadly pastures of unwarranted self-assurance and the false pastures of self-security. A pastor who would be a theologian knows when and how to be both convicting prophet and comforting good shepherd.

--Stephen J. Nichols, "Proclaiming the Image: Theology and Preaching," Gheens Lectures at Southern Seminary

HT: PureChurch