What truly defines a man of God?

The Jenkins Institute asked men to rank the characteristics they believe matter most in the life of a godly man and minister—and the results reveal some encouraging priorities along with one significant concern.

In this episode of Trends with Truth in Churches of Christ, Jeff Jenkins and Dale Jenkins are joined by Dr. Michael D. Jackson, President of Heritage Christian University, to examine the survey results and discuss what they mean for ministers, elders, ministry students, and congregations today.

The results placed being a student of the Word of God at the top, followed closely by a strong personal spiritual life and biblical preaching and teaching.

But then the numbers changed dramatically.

While preaching ranked near the top, ministry to people fell significantly lower—raising an important question: Have we become better at preparing men to preach than preparing them to minister?

The conversation explores:

- Why Bible study must remain foundational to ministry

- Why personal spiritual formation cannot simply be assumed

- The relationship between preaching and actually loving people

- Why congregations often remember ministry more than individual sermons

- The growing need for relational and interpersonal ministry skills

- How internships and supervised ministry can better prepare future ministers

- Why every minister could benefit from an experienced mentor

- How administration can quietly crowd out the most important parts of ministry

If you preach, serve as an elder, train ministers, attend a Christian university, or simply want to become a stronger man of God, this conversation offers some important questions worth considering.

What characteristic do you believe is most important in a man of God?

Tell us in the comments.

Subscribe for more episodes of Trends with Truth, where we examine real data and trends affecting Churches of Christ and ministry today—seeking facts, not assumptions.

Chapters:

00:00 What Defines a Man of God?

00:59 How Often Does “Man of God” Appear in the Bible?

02:19 The Jenkins Institute Survey

02:49 #1 — A Student of the Word of God

04:18 Everything Must Lead Back to Scripture

05:37 #2 — A Strong Personal Spiritual Life

07:05 Bible Knowledge vs. Spiritual Formation

08:42 #3 Biblical Preaching & #4 Ministry to People

10:47 The Surprising Drop in Ministry

12:09 What Congregations Actually Remember

12:57 Are We Training Preachers or Ministers?

14:51 The Growing Soft-Skills Challenge

17:34 How Christian Universities Can Better Train Ministers

19:17 Why Ministers Need Mentors

21:04 Administration Ranked Last

22:16 Seeking Facts, Not Assumptions

Keywords

Use these in the keyword/tag field rather than awkwardly stuffing them into the description:

man of God, what is a man of God, characteristics of a man of God, godly man, biblical manhood, Christian manhood, qualities of a godly man, Christian ministry, ministry leadership, preacher training, preacher ministry, biblical preaching, Bible study, spiritual formation, personal spiritual life, ministry to people, church leadership, minister mentoring, preacher mentoring, ministry education, Heritage Christian University, Jenkins Institute, Jeff Jenkins, Dale Jenkins, Michael D Jackson, Churches of Christ, church of Christ, Trends with Truth, Trends with Truth Churches of Christ, Christian leadership, ministry survey

Hashtags:

#ManOfGod #ChristianMinistry #ChurchLeadership #ChurchesOfChrist #TrendsWithTruth