Twenty Random Things I’m Thankful For in 2012
I love Thanksgiving. Here are twenty random things in no certain order that I’m thankful for: 1) I’m thankful for Angela, my beautiful wife of ten years (tomorrow is my anniversary). I’m the luckiest man alive. But more on that tomorrow. 2) I’m thankful for my four children, Grace, Daniel, Emma, Lily. Each is so […]
Shouldn’t Gratitude Should Be Our First Language?
Yeah, yeah, of course we’re supposed to be thankful on Thanksgiving. But it occurs to me that we’re not very good at this. By we, I don’t mean the editorial “we” by which I’m pointing the finger at the rest of Americans for being ungrateful while I ignore my own ingratitude. By we I don’t […]
The Gospel Versus Nostalgia
This summer I had the privilege of travelling to Eastern Europe to attend my brother’s wedding. His wife, Annette, is a native of Krakow, Poland. After the wedding, I continued on to Slovakia to visit missionaries we support near Bratislavia. Jason and Adele Rice and their three young boys have just got to the field […]
Five Responses to President Obama’s Relection
So the election is over and many evangelicals are disappointed. So now what? Here are five responses.
The Sin About Which No One Will Speak
Envy is like a fly that passes all the body’s sounder parts, and dwells upon the sores. – Arthur Chapman There is a sin that nobody in our world really wants to discuss. It’s the fashionable sin, that fuels our great social movements and has become an engine of our politics. It’s the sin of […]
The Surprising Fruit of Balance
It would be hard to find a more boring word in ministry circles than “balance.” There is a lot of talk about being “radical”, “edgy”, “relevant”, etc. But balance sounds rather unhip. But I’m finding this word may be the key to lifelong, steady, sustained ministry success. There is a part of all of us […]
5 Things Leaders Can Learn From the Presidential Debates
So the Presidential debates are about a week behind us. This election is heading toward it’s conclusion (Thankfully). Unlike previous election years, the debates have had a dramatic effect on the race. Personally, I have found them fascinating and interesting. And I wonder if Christian leaders can draw some lessons from these debates as we […]
Why I’m Voting, Who I’m Voting For, and Why
We’re heading down the homestretch of this election. There are a lot of questions for American Christians. Should we vote? Who should we vote for? Should we place so much trust in a political party? We’ve seen both candidates endure months of grueling campaigning, be ridiculed about gaffes, and we’ve read enough tweets and Facebook […]
When We Add Stuff to the Bible, We Hurt People
Orthodox evangelicals believe in something called a “closed cannon.” In other words, we believe the Bible as it is presently constructed-39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament-are the complete, written, inspired, inerrant Word of God. This matters for lots of reasons, but two big ones: a) we have all […]
How You Can Best Help Your Church
If you’re a Christian, whether you realize it or not, you are called, by God, to be on mission in the world. This is the essence of the gospel call, that you were not simply saved from death but also saved for a purpose (Ephesians 2:10). That purpose is to make disciples (Matthew 28:16-20). And the way God has […]
Why You Should Tithe To Your Church
One of the hardest message a pastor is tasked with giving is the message on giving. I don’t like talking about giving at our church. I don’t like urging people to give. But giving is clearly a concept that runs through the Scriptures. And if we don’t talk about, we miss an opportunity to learn […]
3 Reasons Your Pastor Probably Doesn’t Preach Politics
I’ve written on this issue before, but it’s probably worth revisiting in an election season. And new research has been released by Lifeway that affirms what I’ve always believed: generally Bible-believing pastors shy away from overt political endorsements and preaching politics in the pulpit. I wrote a piece for Relevant not long ago on this subject in […]