Church Life
Thirsty for Transcendence
My friend Drew Dyck thinks we’ve domesticated God and we’ve done so at our own spiritual peril. Drew is the managing editor of Leadership Journal (where I am a contributor) and the author of a brand new book, Yawning at Tigers. I finished reading this book a few weeks ago and I highly recommend it. Drew takes aim at…
Read MoreWhat Our Stories Say About Us
What are the stories embedded in our culture saying and how should Christians react, respond, and discern? This was the topic of discussion I engaged with Mike Cosper, pastor of worship and arts at Sojourn Community Church. Mike is a gifted voice at the intersection of theology and art in the church, one of the…
Read MorePreparing Our Hearts for Easter
How should Christians prepare their hearts this Easter? I asked this of Andreas Kostenberger, research professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest and author of the new book, The Final Days of Jesus coauthored with Justin Taylor. It’s a terrific resource, harmonizing the gospel accounts of Jesus’ arrest, trial,…
Read MoreHow to Pastor Single Adults
Lisa Anderson is the editor of Boundless, one of the finest resources for young adults in the evangelical world. She’s also host of the Boundless Podcast, where she interviews leading thinkers on issues of singleness, sexuality, marriage, and culture. I had the chance to interview Lisa this week for Leadership Journal. I asked her questions on…
Read MoreRelief for Parents of Special Needs Children
Cameron Doolittle is CEO of an inovative and needed ministry called “Jill’s House.” This unique ministry was birthed out of McLean Bible Church in the Washington DC area. Jill’s House offers respite for parents of special needs children. I had the chance to interview Cameron this week for my Friday Five feature on Leadership Journal‘s Parse…
Read MoreWhen Christianity Becomes Uncomfortable
On Sunday, our small group began a study on discipleship, aided by the very good material from Multiply written by Francis Chan and David Platt. The first part of this study challenges us to count the cost of discipleship. I was struck afresh by Jesus’ words in Luke: Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned…
Read MoreWhat Pastors Owe Their People
If you are a pastor, you cannot escape the unmistakeable call of spiritual leaders, in the New Testament to “feed the flock of God”: Jesus commissioned Peter to do “feed my sheep”, no less than three times, in that famous scene on the shores of Galilee (John 21:15-19) Jesus commissioned the disciples, in the Great…
Read MoreThe Last Week of Jesus
Even for those who know the Bible well, it can be difficult to piece together the final week of Jesus as it is chronicled across the four gospels. This is why I’m excited to see a brand-new book by one of my favorite people: Justin Taylor. Justin is a popular blogger at Between Two Worlds,…
Read MoreWhy Should We Talk About Our Racial History?
In Southern Baptist Churches this Sunday we celebrate Racial Reconciliation Sunday. At the ERLC, we’ve developed quite a few resources for churches to use in their presentations. I’m grateful our denomination celebrates this, given our racial history and given how central this issue is to the gospel. In the Great Commission (Mathew 28:16), we see…
Read MorePreaching as a Craft to Be Cultivated.
I love preaching. I love the act of preaching and I love listening to preaching. There is something wild and mysterious and beautiful about God’s Word flowing through a flawed man empowered by the Holy Spirit as a primary delivery method for spiritual change. This week I had the chance to interview Matt Woodley, managing…
Read MoreFrom Pulpit to Pew: On Joining a New Church
After 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…
Read MoreThe One Thing Your Team Needs . . . That Only You Can Give
“Nobody has ever told me that before,” she said to me. Her tired voice and tired posture betrayed years of faithful ministry work that had gone unnoticed and unappreciated. It was my first week on the job as a Senior Pastor and I had much to learn about shepherding God’s people. But one thing I…
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