Church Life
Flattery Can Kill – The Gospel Coalition Blog
The Gospel Coalition website posted my article entitled, “Flattery Can Kill”. In this piece I share the story of my being wooed by the flattery of a church member and how it ultimately hurt the ministry: Flattery is a hidden trap for pastors, especially young men new to leadership. Pressured to grow and besieged by…
Read MoreWhy Your Work Matters
This is a terrific conversation between Collin Hansen of The Gospel Coalition and Matt Perman, proprietor of the blog What’s Best Next and director of strategy for Desiring God Ministries. Collin interviews Matt about his forthcoming book, but more importantly about the often-neglected doctrine of work. I love this new emphasis, helping so-called “lay people” discover…
Read MoreKevin DeYoung on Christian Political Engagement
Today is the Iowa caucus and the first of many primaries for Republicans before a long drawn-out Presidential and Congressional contest. Christians of course have to wrestle with politics in America. Good people find themselves on both sides of important issues. This is why I especially appreciated the wisdom of Kevin DeYoung, who writes on…
Read MorePermission to Pursue What You Love
I’ve just finished reading two books which have cemented in my mind an often neglected biblical doctrine. We often call it the doctrine of “vocation” but I think this doesn’t speak to the totality of it. The first book I finished was Work Matters by Pastor Tom Nelson (Christ Community Church, Leewood, Kansas). The second was…
Read MoreWhy Your Pastor Shouldn’t Be Your Podcast
Trevin Wax recently wrote a widely distributed post entitled, “Why Your Podcast Shouldn’t Be Your Pastor.” He raised some important points about the proliferation of content over the Internet. Its easy today to consume the best of contemporary evangelical pastors simply by downloading them through iTunes or listening online. While this is a wonderful blessing…
Read MorePreaching Through James
This last year I finished a series through the book of James entitled, Authentic Faith. I divided up this book into 15 messages and gave the congregation the entire outline of the series before we began. It was a terrific study, one that challenged me as a preacher and offered a great challenge for our…
Read MoreBible Reading Plans for 2012
In 2012 our church is going thru the Bible in a year. To help, I gathered resources and some Bible reading plans and put them out at our information table at church. I thought I would post the information here as well as a help to those considering reading the Bible thru in 2012. This…
Read MorePastoring the People You Have
I have been meditating on 1 Peter in my own private devotions for sometime now. This is a habit I began last year. Rather than rushing through a book, I’ve been taking books and just spending days and weeks and months on the same passages to get familiar with them. Next year I plan on…
Read MoreThe Discipline of Going to Church
Going to church can become routine. I know it, because I grew up going to church three times a week (at least). It was not a choice my parents gave me. It was something we did, part of our regular routine. As a 2nd Generation Christian, I know full well the dangers of making spirituality…
Read MorePenn State and The Danger of Insular Communities
The news from Penn State University continues to shock, anger, and sadden all of us. A once-proud University, known for it’s commitment to excellence and integrity is now humbled by the revelations that it allowed one of it’s longtime coaches to abuse children on their campus. The allegations are still forthcoming and most of us don’t know…
Read MoreFriday Five – Drew Dyck
Drew Dyck is the author of Generation Ex-Christian (Moody, 2010). He has served in a variety of ministry roles. He currently works for Christianity Today International as the managing editor of Leadership Journal. Prior to this, Drew was the editor of New Man magazine. Drew stopped by today to answer questions for today’s Friday Five:
Read MoreFriday Five: Bradley Wright
How often have you heard, in the last year, some alarming statistics that “prove” young kids are sprinting away from the church, that Christianity in the West will die in the next generation, and that the world thinks Christians are idiots? If so, then today’s Friday Five will challenge some of those statistical assumptions. I’m delighted…
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