Meet Mike Pierson.

Mike, 44, is the senior pastor of Providence Church in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Pittsburgh. Mike says he and his family “stumbled” into the church for the first time in 1997. A few years later Mike was sent from Providence Church to attend the Pastors College. After graduation in 2001, Mike returned to Providence Church and spent another year as an intern and became the senior pastor in 2002.

Mike and his wife Carla have been married for nearly 23 years. They are blessed with five children. You may recall that I mentioned Mike in the introduction to our “Ordinary Pastors” blog post, which you can read here.

Mike, please describe your morning devotions. What time do you wake up in the morning? How much time do you spend reading, meditating, praying, etc.? What are you presently reading?

Currently (and I say that because I’ve been known to change schedules frequently) I wake up around 6:30 and try to spend 45 minutes in morning devotions before work. My normal routine would involve some time of “Biblical Meditation” where I will read and meditate on fairly small portions of scripture. My goal is not quantity of reading in this setting but concentrating on soaking in the passage and allowing it to affect my soul and prayers. Right now I have been going slowly through the book of Acts specifically looking for and meditating on 3 things:

• The work of the Holy Spirit
• Gospel presentations / how salvation is talked about
• Miracles and healings
  

I’m usually reading though some book during my devotions too. I’m so aware that I need to understand and apply the gospel more and more to my life. Reading and re-reading small chunks of The Gospel Primer by Milton Vincent helps me to apply the gospel to my own life daily and consistently. I love this book and highly recommend it.

As for praying, probably my most helpful, but sporadic, practice is to use biblical prayers (the Lord’s prayer, Paul’s prayers in Eph. 1 and 3, and Phil. 1, etc.) and praying those phrase by phrase. I attempt to let each word or phrase inform the content of prayers in my own words.

I also find it so helpful for my soul to worship at home too. I use CDs and I crank up the music because I can’t sing well and my only instrument is the drums.

What book(s) are you currently reading in these three categories: (a) for your soul, (b) for pastoral ministry, (c) or for personal enjoyment?

For my soul:

The Gospel Primer (Milton Vincent). What a book. Buy it, read it, read it again. Read it slowly. Keep reading it.

Spiritual Depression (D. Martin Lloyd-Jones).

Age of Opportunity (Paul Tripp). Is there a better book to help the heart of a father of teens? If so, I haven’t found it.

When Sinners Say ‘I Do’ (Dave Harvey). I’m especially enjoying the chapter on mercy in marriage.

For pastoral ministry:

The Christian Ministry (Charles Bridges). The chapter entitled “The Want of Faith” is being used by God to address unbelief and is having a transforming effect on my view of God.

Revival and Revivalism (Iain Murray). I just started reading this after subjective impressions that the Lord wanted our church to begin to pray for revival on a more consistent basis.

For personal enjoyment:

Not much. The last book I read in this category was Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy.

When you finish a book, what system have you developed in order to remember and reference that book in the future?

I wish I had a system, but I don’t. I do underline and write in margins so I can go back and find parts that were helpful. I always read with a pencil in hand.

Join me next time for part two of my interview with my friend, Mike Pierson.