A Pastor’s ViewDo you have a favorite sermon or teaching? Something you sensed the Holy Spirit working in and through in profound ways either through you or to you or both? I believe all ministers long for this, both on the giving and receiving side. On the giving side, I hope you often have that too-rare experience […]
Several years ago, the staff at my church went through a rough patch. Personalities clashed and conflict seemed to multiply daily across multiple members of the team. If you had asked, we would have all individually endorsed the intrinsic value of unity. If quizzed, we could have given chapter and verse about the many biblical […]
John the Apostle inspires us with his summation of Jesus. The first chapter of John’s gospel has kept the minds and pens of theologians busy for two thousand years. Perhaps more importantly, these Holy Spirit-guided words have helped believers and not-yet believers see the glory of Jesus. When John says that he and others saw […]
Originally written im November 2021. How does voter fraud happen? How could mail-in voting lead to voter fraud? How could election fraud lead to voter fraud? How could foreign interference lead to voter fraud? Do Americans still believe in the electoral system? 5 principles to help pastor doubtful voters “Can we really trust our elections?” […]
I suspect you have some anchor points of truth and encouragement that stick in your soul. When I was in the eighth grade, the vice principal of the school told me that the most revered teacher on the campus called me “a guy who takes care of his business” in a private conversation they’d had. […]
John Stott never became as famous as his friend Billy Graham, yet he was so beloved and influential that one observer joked that if evangelicals elected a pope, it would probably be Stott. Tim Chester’s book Stott on the Christian Life: Between Two Worlds is a worthy introduction to this giant of the faith, with […]
I am the neighborhood loser. I took down my Christmas lights two days after Christmas. I was the first, or one of the first, on my street to remove them. My tree was sitting on the curb too. These are the unmistakable signs that we have declared Christmas is over. As I put my lights […]
What is your sense of things going into Christmas 2021? Unrest from Covid-19, variants, natural disasters, political partisanship, geopolitical tension, culture wars, and ministry strain all seem a little calmer and quieter to me, but I could be totally wrong. Even if I’m right in my assessment, I still sense an uncomfortable uncertainty rumbling beneath […]
D. A. Carson, a distinguished theologian and author, got the idea for his book The Intolerance of Tolerance on the college lecture circuit. Whenever he spoke on the subject, the crowds were large and the discussion lively. Eventually, as he continued to mull over the topic, he realized he had to put his thoughts into […]
Dr. Matthew Sleeth’s book Hope Always: How to Be a Force for Life in a Culture of Suicide is timely around the holidays, but not for the reason you might think. Suicides don’t increase at Christmas—that’s a myth—but they do spike on New Year’s Day, a warning of things to come. “In the coming year, […]