Paul W. Powell Legacy Library

God has not put us here just to enjoy the luxury and the wonder and the splendor of this town and this complex. We are here as his missionary people. We must get on with that mission. The Christian army is the only one that trains its justice chaplains and its band directors. The curse of the church is the eternal childhood of believers. Most pastors are little more t...

A little boy wrote a four-sentence essay on Socrates. “Socrates was a Greek. Socrates was a great man. Socrates told people how to live their lives. They poisoned Socrates.” Telling other people how to live is hazardous work. Yet this is precisely the task of every minister. The true pastor is a God-appointed man to proclaim a God-given message to the wor...

13 When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son o...

15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness. Introduction As I travel about the country to talk with pastors and church leaders, the problem I find them struggling with most is the question of authority a...

When we come to Christ, like our Lord, we need to set our faces steadfastly toward Jerusalem—our place of total commitment. This call, then, is a call to put our hand to the plow, our feet in the field, our eyes on the cross, and never look back. This book is intended for the pastor at the crossroads—our best hope for the renewal and revival we need in Ame...

This small book is written principally for the large number of small churches that are plateaued and declining and for young pastors just beginning their work or bi-vocational pastors who are pressed for time. It is a quick read but not a quick fix. It deals with the basics—visionary leadership, building fellowship, praying, preaching, pastoring, visiting, and h...

  7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. 8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. 17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it...

When Peter the Great, the eighteenth-century czar of Russia, came to power he determined to modernize Russia and bring it out of the dark ages. So he traveled incognito throughout Europe learning as much as he could from other countries. When he returned to Russia he said to his people, “I will drag you, kicking and screaming, into the modern world.” ...

What, then, is the authority of the pastor? There is none! Except that which is given to him by the church or the power of his influence. There is no authority inherent in the office, and there is none invested in it by a religious hierarchy.  When it comes to authority in my church I feel like the man who was approached by a committee that said, “We are l...