Is Power Always A Bad Thing?
December 18, 2013How should followers of Jesus think about the use of power? That’s a question Christianity Today executive editor Andy Crouch addresses in his latest book, Playing God. I had the chance to ask him about this and other questions in a wide-ranging interview for Leadership Journal. Here’s an excerpt: Your latest book, Playing God ventures into what you might call the “third rail” of evangelicalism, the idea of power. It seems we are afraid of power—is that due to so many examples of corruption and tyranny? Evangelicalism inherits the legacy of dissenting churches that were disenfranchised (by choice or by others’ force) from…
Continue ReadingRepeat the Sounding Joy
December 17, 2013Have you noticed lately that it’s the Christians who are often most cranky during the Christmas season? Complaining has almost become required. We hear sermons on how to deal with the stress of Christmas. We read ominous-sounding emails and Facebook posts on the so-called “War on Christmas.” And of course, cable news shows ramp up the debates on whether an elderly greeter in Dinkytown, USA, articulated her “Merry Christmas” greeting in a way that satisfies the Westminster Confession. And let’s not even get into the tiresome annual debate about the chubby guy with the beard decked out in red from…
Continue ReadingDo You Really Believe This? On Santa Claus, Jesus, and the Unbelievable
December 16, 2013It is during this season, the glorious Christmas season, that my wife watches her favorite channel the most. Unfortunately for me, that channel is not one of the ESPN family of networks, but the Hallmark Channel. I’m generally a fan of Hallmark’s usually wholesome television programming, stuff you can actually watch with your nine-year-old in the room, so please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. Here it is: The endless string of Christmas rom-coms I’m forced to watch with my wife makes me want to channel William Wallace in Braveheart, rip off my shirt, and yell, ”Freedom!” Maybe it’s the very simple…
Continue ReadingThe Power of a Mentor
December 13, 2013You can’t underestimate the power of a mentor. I know that because six years ago, a man came into my life who would shape me in profound ways. This month I had the chance to write about this man, Bill Swanger, and his impact. Here’s an excerpt: Bill became one of my best friends during my five years of pastoral ministry. On several occasions, early in my tenure, he saved me, literally. He showed me how to pursue change in a way that didn’t alienate members. He taught me how to deal with conflict in a graceful, humble way. More…
Continue ReadingPreach the Gospel and Forget Politics?
December 9, 2013Evangelicals are evaluating their posture in an increasingly post-Christian age. This is good, but there are some myths we’ve adopted that are unhelpful. In my weekly post for ERLC, I tackled five of these. Here is a common one: We should only preach the gospel and make disciples and not worry about politics. Here is my answer: It’s true that no political party or movement can change the world. Sometimes political activism on both the left and the right can be overly triumphalist. Only the gospel, not political ideology, has the power to change hearts. Yes and amen. But the gospel,…
Continue ReadingA Theology of Technology
December 6, 2013How do Christians handle technology? We we blindly accept it all forms as neutral? Do we withdraw in a sort of isolationist rejection? Fascinating questions we must tackle as faithful followers of Jesus during the digital revolution. These are the questions Craig Detwiler discusses in a fascinating new book, iGods. I had the change to chat with him this week over at Leadership Journal. Here’s a snippet of that conversation: If you could counsel church leaders, how would you advise them to approach, in their teaching and personal life example, an adequate theology of technology? As with entertainment, the temptation seems to be disengagement…
Continue ReadingGuest Post: Living Out a Risky Faith
December 5, 2013I’m pleased to feature a guest post from my good friend, Owen Strachan. Owen is a gifted communicator whose work appears in publications ranging from Christianity Today to Atlantic Monthly. He is executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood and assistant professor of Christian Theology and Church History at Boyce College in Louisville, Kentucky. He also teaches for the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Risky Gospel: Abandon Fear and Build Something Awesome. He is married to Bethany and is the father of two children. You can check out the website for this book here: …
Continue ReadingFrom Pulpit to Pew: On Joining a New Church
December 4, 2013After five years in the pulpit and 30 years prior growing up in, working, and serving in my home church, I found myself in the oddly new position of looking for a place to worship. And so our quest for a new church began as soon as we moved from Chicago area to Nashville. After years of looking askance at those who “church shop”, I was in the buying mood. We felt it was important for us to find and get settled in a church as soon as we could, but we knew our search must be spirit-directed and guided…
Continue ReadingFinding God in the Boring
November 27, 2013Had a chance to interview my friend, Michael Kelly about his new book, Boring, which you should buy. Michael is a Director of Discipleship at Lifeway Christian Resources. He’s a creative speaker and author. If you have not read his book, Wednesdays Were Pretty Normal, you should. In that book, Michael walks thru the difficult journey he and his wife endured with their son, Joshua who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 2. In this video, we discuss the meaningfulness of the ordinary parts of our lives, how we glorify God in the mundane details of everyday.
Continue ReadingMark Buchanan’s Writing Rhythm
November 26, 2013Mark Buchanan is one of my favorite authors. He’s a pastor, a teacher, and a man who can really turn a phrase. I had the chance to interview Mark last week for Leadership Journal. One of the questions I asked was this: What is your writing rhythm? Are you an early morning writer, a late-night writer? I write almost everything I produce—books, blogs, or articles—in a 4–5 hour block every Friday. I awake around 6:30 AM. I exercise, shower, eat, make coffee, read 2 chapters of Scripture and a few pages each of theology and history. Then, around 9 AM,…
Continue Reading5 Tips to Establish Yourself as a Writer
November 20, 2013I have people ask me all the time how to get started writing. I suspect there are many who enjoy putting words together and just don’t know how to get going. Maybe they are intimidated by the idea of writing a book or a long-form piece to a journal or magazine. Or even the idea of “blogging” and social media scare them. Here is the best advice I can give them. I hope this helps you if you are reading it: 1) Get started somewhere, even if it’s small. My advice now is to just get started. Create a blog and…
Continue ReadingWhy You Can’t Push Kids Into the Kingdom
November 18, 2013In a piece for Her.meneutics, Jennifer Grant cautions parents against trying to “bully their kids into belief,” writing: “Between the extremes of bullying our children into faith and neglecting to teach them to pray is a wide expanse.” I completely agree, and I suspect most parents would too. And yet…in our practice of parenting, we often act as though our child’s relationship with God is all up to us. In my experience as a child of the church, a pastor, and now a father of four, I’ve found most attempts to force faith onto children stem from a misapplication of…
Continue ReadingThe Most Anti-Female Practice In the World
November 16, 2013Yesterday I interviewed Marian Liatuad, editor of Today’s Christian Woman and Church Law and Tax Report for Christianity Today International. I was excited to interview Marian, because she has fascinating interests. Besides her writing and editing, she’s a marathoner, running to raise money for charity water and she’s an outspoken advocate for the unborn, particularly against sex-selective abortion. She wrote a terrific book, War on Women. You’ve written extensively about the practice of sex-selective abortions, calling a ban on them a “no-brainer.” Why don’t you think more feminists are speaking up about this practice? I called a ban on sex-selective abortions a “no brainer” because…
Continue ReadingShaping Minds Thru Fiction – A Conversation With Trevin Wax
November 7, 2013I had a chance to interview my good friend, Trevin Wax about his brand-new book, Clear Winter Nights. Trevin is one of my favorite bloggers and authors. He’s also the managing editor of The Gospel Project curriculum from Lifeway, a fantastic tool that I highly recommend churches use for all ages. In this video conversation, I talk to Trevin about his foray into fiction and how the power of story and conversation can help shape both hearts and minds.
Continue Reading5 Things to Consider Before Rebuking a Christian Celebrity
November 6, 2013The new online world has flattened leadership. Most of the time this is good, increasing accountability and allowing undiscovered talent to rise. But there is a downside. Criticism now comes easier, with the click of a “send” button on a variety of media tools, you can “call out” Christians with whom you disagree. I would argue that a few rules should guide our online rebukes. Here are five questions I try to ask myself before writing critically about someone: 1) Do you have all the facts? Proverbs 18:3 seems wise counsel in this social media age: “If one gives an…
Continue ReadingThe false gospel of cynicism
November 4, 2013Today, at the ERLC blog, I talk about the mandate for joy in Philippines 4:8: Yet Paul, without denying the misery of life in a fallen world, seems to say to followers of Jesus everywhere: “In light of what we have in Christ, let’s think on these things: truth, honor, justice, purity, loveliness, what is commendable and what is praiseworthy.” In other words, let’s not focus solely on the evil in the world. Let’s not live as negative, apocalyptic reactionaries. There is time for lament, certainly. But given that we know the Man of Sorrows who has borne our grief, let’s train…
Continue ReadingJesus and the Digital Pharisees
October 30, 2013It’s kind of ridiculous to ask, “What if Jesus were on Twitter?” But indulge me for a second, anyways. I’ve noticed something about our generation’s engagement online and with those we consider “Christian celebrities” – famous pastors or church leaders who have big platforms. There’s a tendency among those of us who blog, tweet, write, post, instagram, etc toward a subtle kind of Phariseeism. Our generation prides itself on not being legalistic, of casting off the sort of religious, rule-making paradigm we didn’t quite like about our parent’s version of church. But in our zeal to not be like those…
Continue ReadingYour Family is Not a Problem to Be Solved
October 28, 2013In a symposium published by The Guardian, novelist Richard Ford was asked to deliver his best advice to aspiring writers. Forgive me for quibbling with the wisdom of a celebrated muse, but I was offended by his first two pieces of advice: 1) Marry somebody you love and who thinks you being a writer’s a good idea; 2) Don’t have children. In Ford’s view, marriage is only useful insomuch as it furthers personal aims and children are optional nuisances to be avoided, if possible. Marriage is merely instrumental instead of aspirational. I’m not sure if Ford’s advice was meant as…
Continue ReadingGetting Free by Pursuing Jesus
October 25, 2013Chances are you have seen Jefferson Bettke’s viral video: “Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus” which has now been viewed almost 27 million times. A lot of has happened in Jefferson’s life since the release of that spoken word video. God has given him a great platform to share the gospel in unique and powerful ways. He is out with a new book, Jesus>Religion. I had the chance to interview Jefferson for my weekly blog at Leadership Journal’s Out of Ur. I asked him about one of the subjects of his public speaking ministry: the grip of pornography on young men: Pornography has…
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