Meet the Pauleys

All over the country young people are returning to school. Our own children start back this week. New beginnings are a wonderful opportunity to set so many things in motion. Regardless of what school your children are in, parents are always key to the education of their own children. Little things can make a big difference. What can you do to encourage your children to make the most of every day? Get ready the evening before. One secret to fruitful days is in how the previous evening is spent. Prepare so that the morning hours are not spent in “emergency mode.” Play good music around the house during the morning routine. Encouraging, Christ-honoring music will help everyone’s spirit. Take a Bible…

Preacher’s are engaged in the greatest work in the world. It is a work that will outlive this world!  1 Timothy 5:17 says, “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” Those who are engaged in such labor must also have times to rest and refresh their own souls. Friendship and fellowship is absolutely essential to keeping your own heart renewed. Even the great Apostle Paul rejoiced when he was given liberty to go to his friends and be refreshed (Acts 27:3). Three weeks from today we will be gathered with a group of preachers at The Preacher’s Rest in Hickory, North Carolina. This gathering is designed…

All of us who have preached for any length of time can testify that some things are different every time we stand to preach. The truth never changes, but the preacher’s mind, the audience attitude, and the general circumstances do! Some days the message flows. Sometimes it does not. I have wondered of late if this was some of what the Apostle Paul had in mind when he wrote to a young minister, “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season…” (2 Timothy 4:2). Seasons change and some are more enjoyable than others. At this juncture in ministry I am preaching many times every week. To be perfectly transparent I must confess that some days I do not…

It was my privilege to serve as an assistant to a wonderful pastor for many years. Eighteen years were spent helping someone else fulfill the work God had put in his heart to do. Yet the great truth is that I was also fulfilling the work God had put in my heart to do! An older, mature pastor was speaking for us many years ago. I was privileged to be his host. As we sat at dinner one evening he leaned across the table and said, “Scott, in church work people talk about men serving as a ‘second man.’ There is no such thing. In God’s plan there is a first place for every man. The man who serves as…

Gayle Washington was a fellow-worker for many years in the ministry. Her burden is to help pastors and churches and the Lord is using her. She and her husband, Dave, have been wonderful friends to our family. I am happy to recommend her resources and hope that they may be of help to many local churches. The single most important mission of the local New Testament church is to reach people with the Gospel and help them to know God better.  It’s all about people, yet it is essential to carry out proper daily procedures to keep the work of the Lord decently and in order. Through unconscious preparation, God allowed me the privilege of working for Temple Baptist Church…

These words from Luke 11:1 are the prayer that opens the understanding to more prayer. How often we go through the motions and mechanics of prayer but fail to truly connect with Heaven. The adventure of faith, the thrill of communion with the God of the universe, the privilege of affecting eternity awaits…and we are content to simply recite our religious clichés to God! “Lord, teach us to pray!” No, Lord, teach ME to pray! As a preacher I am so deeply convicted that often I have given more attention and interest to what I will say in the pulpit than what I will say in the prayer closet. Believers at every age in life and every stage of maturity…

What a precious summer we have had so far! God has helped us and we have seen Him at work in so many places. Thank you for praying for us and for those we have the privilege to minister to. August is a special month in our family full of birthday celebrations and, this year, our first child going off to college! (Pray for mom and dad!) I am looking forward to preaching and teaching God’s Word and deeply appreciate your prayers. Homecoming Sunday, August 5, Morning Service, Graystone Baptist Church, Lewisburg, WV, Pastor Youel Altizer Sunday Evening, August 5, Youth Ministry Service, Cranberry Baptist Church, Beckley, WV, Pastor Roger Pauley (I will also be teaching a special series of…

This week on our “Enjoying the Journey” podcast I am dealing with what the Word of God says about alcohol. (You may subscribe or listen at scottpauley.org/broadcast.) As an accompanying resource I wanted to pass along to you a most helpful article that my friend, Pastor Johnny Pope, has written on this subject. It will be a good guide for further study of Scripture. – SP We believe what we want to believe. We are now in the throes of postmodernism, humanism to the max, and a spiritual coup d’etat that re-arranges the worldview concerning the subject of drinking. As believers are now morphing past the point of diversity on the subject to condoning and, in some cases, pushing other…

This is not an article on health and wellness. It is much more important than that. (If my mother is reading this I want to go on record as saying that I do believe we all should eat our vegetables! Love you, mom.) The question is: why would we take better care of our bodies than we do our souls? A man’s spirit is most important because it is the eternal part of him. This is what the Apostle Paul taught when he wrote to young Timothy, “For bodily exercise profiteth little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come” (1 Timothy 4:8). The greater thing…

Today is my son’s 13th birthday. We have had a wonderful time celebrating this week as a family. How could we have three teenagers?! I asked Grant to lead us in prayer for our meal the other night. Near the end of his prayer he said, “Thank you, God, for giving me 13 years.” It was a simple statement. It made a profound impact on me. Indeed, God is the One who gives us every year…every day. And we should be grateful for every one of them. As a dad I was encouraged by his prayer. As a Christian I was convicted by it. How often do I pause just to thank the Lord for life? He gave it. He…