15 Reflections from My 15 Years of Experience as a Pastor
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Brian Najapfour offers up 15 excellent reflections based on his 15 years of pastoring.
Faithlessness Shrinks You Down To a Grasshopper
Trevin Wax: “Thinking too little of God sometimes leads you to think too little of yourself. For years, I thought it was the other way around. I always thought that seeing God as big meant I needed to see myself as small. Or, to put it another way, the bigger my vision of God grows, the more my vision of myself will shrink. Wrong.”
Will Phoebe Have Down’s Syndrome in Heaven?
This is a short but powerful reflection in which a father answers his son.
The Hardest Thing About Being a Missionary
It turns out that the hardest thing about being a missionary is also the hardest thing about being a pastor. That leads this pastor/missionary to a meditation on loving people even when it is difficult.
Love and Entitlement
Over the last little while, Melissa has been penning a lot of small articles like this one that reflect on the nature of true love compared to versions that are fraudulent or ridiculous. This time it’s “making sure that our relationships are about US getting what WE want, and if the other person can’t deliver on our list of demands, then they just aren’t worthy of us.”
This Day in 1788. 228 years ago today, evangelist and hymn writer Charles Wesley died. *
Homophobia Has No Place in the Church
“Simply put, homophobia means a fear of homosexuality and, more specifically, homosexual people. And while it is not the same as loving, biblical opposition to certain behaviors or beliefs, this fear-based attitude often leads to unhelpful stereotypes, prejudice, and even cruel mistreatment. So let’s call a spade a spade. Homophobia exists, and it has no place in the church.”
How Clinton’s Email Scandal Took Root
The Washington Post has a long and interesting explanation of how Hillary Clinton’s email scandal began and took root.
Syria and My Prayerlessness
I think we have all had these moments: “My heart sank on Sunday morning when someone prayed aloud for the Syrian refugees. I had forgotten all about them.” I appreciate Laura Booz’s reflection and determination.
In the Bible we find no gap between the call to follow Jesus and the call to engage in mission. —J.D. Greear