As you may well know if you spend much time around these parts, I read a lot. A whole lot. In my reading I have noticed a disturbing trend in the way authors use the Bible to prooftext their books. This concern has led me to write this article in which I will suggest some…
Time Magazine recently listed the “The 25 Most Influential Evangelicals in America.” Predictably, topping that list was Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Community Church in Saddleback Valley, California, and author of the bestseller, The Purpose Driven Life. The Purpose Driven Life is a phenomenon that defies comparison. In two years it sold over 22 million…
Hang on to your hats, because I am about to spiritualize (and very possibly trivialize) one of the great laws of physics. Newton’s Third Law of Motion states, in its simplest form, that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Take a look around and you will see this law in action…
I am going to pose a question and ask you to think for a minute or two before answering. Stop for a moment before you continue reading this article and answer this simple question. Who is the worst sinner you know? Chances are that you know hundreds of people. Perhaps a thousand. Think of all…
Before we go any further I’d like to point out that the title of this article is meant entirely in jest. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be like me, nor do I encourage anyone to walk down that road. The title just seemed so much more interesting than “10 Really Swell Books…
Update (5:43 AM) – I am experiencing occasional issues with phpbb errors. If you get one of these please let me know. I think if you refresh your screen it will go away. As you may have noticed, the web server that hosts this site crashed last night somewhere around 6 PM EST. It was…
Susanna, over at her blog, has just posted a stimulating article she entitled “Pious and Reclusive for Christ” which discusses Christian children who attend public schools. I’d like to point out that Susanna, who is a particularly intelligent and beautiful blogger, just so happens to be one of my three little sisters. At this point…
For some reason the whole family woke up early this morning. By 7 AM we were all out of bed and sitting in the living room, waiting for something to happen. Naturally nothing did happen, so I decided I’d catch up on some DVD reviews. After watching an episode in a 6-part history of Christianity,…
This morning we had a “guest” pastor. I put guest in quotations because he was one of the founding pastors at our church, but recently moved to a neighboring town to help stabilize a floundering daughter church. So he was only a guest insofar as we have not seen him for a while. He preached…
This will be the final article in which I address advertising and the church. Since posting the first two articles I have received many comments about what I wrote. Today I’d like to add a little bit of clarity, especially to the questions of pastorruss who wrote “As you attempt to advertise your church via…
Yesterday I posted an article about church web sites that turned out to be a little bit controversial. I was quite sure in advance of the direction the discussion would take and intended to address the controversy today. So here goes. In the article I pointed to the fact that many, if not most, church…
My church has asked me (once again) to redesign our web site. This is going to be the fourth redesign of the site in the four years I’ve been at the church. Some of the previous changes have been initiated by myself, while others were at the bequest of the staff. This time it is…
Today I’d like to once again crack open the Feedback Files, where I answer questions that have been sent to me by readers of this site. I decided to post this one because it challenged me to deal with some issues that I have often questioned but never pondered. “Certain aspects of reformed theology make…
Of all the books I read, and admittedly, that is quite a few books, I often feel that the biographies are most helpful to my Christian walk. I developed an early love for biographies, for as I’ve mentioned in the past, my mother reads those and her Bible almost exclusively. She taught me the importance…
A reader wrote me recently to ask what I thought of tithing or giving offerings to the church electronically. These days many churches allow and even encourage giving to be done automatically – the bank simply transfers funds directly from a person’s account to the church’s account at a set time of the month. This…
This is a difficult article for me to write. This is not because of the gravity of the topic or a lack of knowledge of the topic at hand. I hestitate to post this because it may seem self-serving, but that is certainly not my intent. This article stems from concerns I have in the…
I’ll file this one away in the “just what we need” files. It is almost too crazy to believe, but it seems that there is a Purpose Driven Life movie on the horizon. Ralph Winter, who has produced a lot of major Hollywood blockbusters, such as X-Men, X-2: X-Men United, the Planet of the Apes…
I recently found the following lengthy excerpt from the book Pilgrim Fellowship Of Faith: The Church As Communion by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (aka Pope Benedict XVI). There are a few typos in the text, but since I do not own this particular book I am unable to correct them. This represents the current pope’s stance…
Today I come looking for answers. I trust that some of you lurking out there have some experience in this matter that you will be willing and able to share. As you know, I lead a home church (small group Bible study) through my church. Not too long ago our discussion turned to our children…
Canada is poised to become one of the most progressive countries in the world. Following in the footsteps of such avant-garde nations as Holland and Belgium, the Canadian government will, in all likelihood, legitimize homosexual marriage this evening. It will still take some time for the law to pass through the necessary channels, but Bill…