Thinking back, I wonder if people thought I was a bit of a mama’s boy. I grew up in a stable home and loved and respected both of my parents. I regularly spent time with each of them. But I was always closer to my mother. If this was true when I was young, it…
Your 7 Job Responsibilities as a Church Member Just imagine what a church can be when all the members are functioning like this. 5 Reasons You Should (Probably) Leave Your Attractional Church Jared Wilson is a big believer in the local church, so he isn’t being flippant when he tells you to consider leaving your…
If you keep up with Christian publishing for any length of time, you will eventually spot a curious phenomenon. Every now and again a scholarly book will show up and a lot of people will get really excited about it. It will be a book that, under normal circumstances, would be known among only the…
The 2016 Reading Challenge is well underway and it has been fun to see people doing their own roundups. Here are a few: Nate Claiborne, Eric Dodson, Julie Thompson. There are way more at Goodreads. Facing a Task Unfinished This is a great idea: “Getty Music is inviting thousands of churches around the globe to…
This sponsored post was prepared by Professors J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays on behalf of Zondervan Academic Online Courses. It’s common for Christians to say they’ve read the Bible their whole lives. But many don’t completely understand what large portions of the Scriptures mean. 3 Bible reading mistakes Without help, it can be…
Maybe you’ve seen that hilarious news footage of a man unexpectedly coming face to face with a bear. He is on his own property, distracted by his phone, when he looks up right into the face of a marauding bear. The man’s reaction is exactly what we would expect—he turns tail and runs away as…
Patient Parenting Sometimes parenting is really, really hard. We’ve been experiencing some of those times lately, so this article was a joy to read. You Can Trust God with Your Kids Speaking of parenting, here is encouragement that you can trust God with your kids. Ten Biblical Truths on the Obedience of Children Sticking with…
With another Sunday, we have another batch of letters to the editor. I received plenty of comments on my article about preaching the gospel to Mormons. Several of them were from practicing Mormons who, not surprisingly, strongly disagreed with what I said. Here are some of the other responses I received. Comments on When the…
Don’t Theologize or Spiritualize Ministry Mediocrity This is an important challenge to churches that love good preaching. “Why is it that so many churches that profess a commitment to the primacy of expository preaching, settle for mediocrity in so many other facets of the church’s ministry?” The Most Dangerous Place On Earth And speaking of…
This week’s Free Stuff Fridays is sponsored by Finalweb who was also the blog’s sponsor for the week. Finalweb creates excellent websites for Christian ministries and churches, while seamlessly integrating advanced features like livestreaming and mobile apps. Their unique system allows your church to create its own site without the need for any programming knowledge…
Late last year I announced the 2016 Reading Challenge, a fun way to increase and diversify your reading through another year. I took the challenge and set this year’s goal at 104 books. However, because so much of my reading has to go toward reviewing books that are recently published and of interest to Christians…
A Matter of Inches You will eventually breathe a sigh of relief. “My wife and I got into the car and drove across town to the hospital, fearing the worst and yet trying to hope for the best. We offered short, pathetic prayers as we went.” Uncool Coins There’s probably a sermon illustration in this…
Today we continue this series on the character of the Christian. We are exploring how the various character qualifications of elders are actually God’s calling on all Christians. While elders are meant to exemplify these traits, all Christians are to display them. I want us to consider whether we are displaying these traits and to…
Our Prayer Instincts Are Backwards “Approaching the Queenstown airport in mid-winter—with mountain ranges on both sides and a huge lake straight ahead—we were caught in a giant wind tunnel. The plane was shuddering and sporadically dropping 50 feet at a time. The cabin filled with shrieking and praying. Many people were crying out to a…
Do you remember Benjamin Watson’s Facebook post from November 14, 2015? The news had just gone out that a St. Louis County grand jury had decided not to indict Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. Watson, a professional football player, took to Facebook with a post that would soon…
Announcing the all-new PrayerMate v5 One of my favorite everyday apps has gotten an update. I was part of the beta test and have already enjoyed this new version. Do Something Small For God I think we all need these reminders from time to time. “We can feel like if we don’t do something great…
We live in a visual culture. Today, people increasingly rely upon visuals to help them understand new and difficult concepts. The rise and popularity of the Internet infographic has given us a new way to convey data, concepts, and ideas. But the visual portrayal of truth is not a novel idea. God himself used visuals…
Sex Abuse in the Church Catherine Parks writes about the ugly reality of sexual abuse in the church. “In recent months, I have thought frequently about abuse allegations in the church. I have read story after story about abuse victims who went to church leaders and either were not believed or were blamed in part…
This week’s sponsored post was prepared by Finalweb. There’s no denying that the world has gone “mobile.” In the last few years, life has changed dramatically thanks to the little rectangles most of us rely on and rarely separate from. For the church, technology sometimes almost feels a little out of place. For those of…
We live just down the road from a large Mormon congregation—or a large church building, at any rate. Not surprisingly, we receive regular visits from the missionaries dispatched to woo and win our neighborhood. Though the individuals vary each time, the pattern is consistent: Two clean-cut Caucasian young men with American accents, friendly and engaging,…