Why We Need Faithful Preaching
This is a snippet of my message for Sunday, “The Equipping Church” – 8th in a series of messages called Doing Church: It’s important that every generation hears the same faithful orthodox truths of the Bible. I want to read a quote from Eric Metaxas recently biography of Deitrich Boenhoeffer, the courageous pastor who resisted […]
Friday Five Interview – Dan King
Every once in a while you meet someone who really knows and understands their craft. Dan King is that kind of person. Recently, I’ve gotten to know Dan, who is the proprietor of a unique Christian site, BibleDude.net. This is a really cool, interactive site with a variety of writers posting articles and blogs on […]
Book Review: Bonhoeffer by Eric Metaxas
It’s hard to imagine a more complex study than the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer. After more than a half-century after his death, the debate still rages about his life. Was he a committed evangelical motivated by the gospel to resist the Nazi regime? Or was he noble, yet a dedicated liberal theologian, a skeptic of the orthodox […]
Christian Handwringing – A Favorite Pastime
Along with potlucks, bad hair, and cheesy TV, another favorite past time of Christians is hand-wringing. I say this as a lifelong Christian and a pastor. For some reason, we think we’re more spiritual when we’re beating up ourselves. The easiest sermon to preach for a pastor is the one that beats up on “the […]
Friday Five – Jason Dukes
My friend, Jason Dukes, stopped by to answer a few questions for The Friday Five. Jason is the founder and senior pastor of Westpointe Church in Central Florida. Jason planted this church seven years ago and now they are experiencing great growth as God has blessed their ministry. Jason has also had an influential role […]
Singing Cowper’s Song
I wanted to take a moment to explain the subtle change to my website. I recently asked my web guy, Sam Guzman, to add the words, “Redeeming Love Has Been My Theme and Shall Be Till I Die,” to the top logo area of my website. These is a line from the fourth verse of […]
Reboot Your Life
Sometimes you just need to reboot your computer and sometimes you need to reboot your life. Elijah realized this. In 1 Kings 19, we see the raw human side of this fiery prophet of God. His lessons are powerful lessons for today’s connected generation. I flesh that out in great detail in chapter five if […]
Friday Five – Matthew Soerens
It’s hard to find a more divisive issue in American politics than immigration. Good people fall on various sides of the issue. But church leaders are increasingly asking what role the church plays in addressing the needs of both legal and undocumented immigrants. Matthew Soerens has become a go-to leader on this issue. Matthew works […]
How I Read the News
The news comes fast and furious these days, from a variety of sources. Online, on the phone, someone texting you, Twitter, Facebook, cable news. We’re long from the days when news came from three TV sources, the all-news radio station, and your daily newspaper. Truthfully, I’m getting most of my news these days from Twitter. […]
Book Review: John Bunyan by Kevin Belmonte
One of my favorite hobbies is reading biographies. Recently I had the opportunity to read and review Kevin Belmont’s excellent biography of John Bunyan. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and wholeheartedly recommend it. Here is my review: Beside the King James Version of the Bible, few works of literature have had the impact of Pilgrim’s […]
Thoughtful Engagement on Immigration
A few days ago I posted a blog expressing some of my frustration regarding what I perceived as some callousness on the part of evangelicals toward immigration. It provoked some discussion, mostly offline, among friends. Having some time to reflect, I realized that my post was written in haste, with little editing, and didn’t serve […]
Friday Five Interview: Ginger Kolbaba
After a couple of years of trying to get my work published and getting rejected (mainly because my writing wasn’t nearly good enough), in the Summer of 2004, I got a big break. Ginger Kolbaba, editor of Marriage Partnership, a magazine once published by Christianity Today, read an email query and said she liked my […]