Eleven years ago, I stood in the pulpit of a dying church. Despite an expansive building, the worship area was mostly empty as I preached the installation service for Rich Shadden. After serving three years as a pastoral intern in the church where I pastored, he was ready to leave the nest for the challenge of pastoral ministry. He and his wife had prayed often about doing revitalization work in...
I eagerly prepared to preach after a long delay from in-person worship gatherings with my church family. In God’s providence, the world had shut down from the COVID-19 pandemic. Months later as I sat there preparing, I felt the emotion with which Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians 2:17: “But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more...
“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you”—these were the parting instructions Jesus left his followers. A common myth in Christianity is that living on mission and being sent is just for a select few—that it takes a special calling to share Jesus and make disciples of those living in other parts of the world. The truth is that every Christian is called and empowered to make Jesus...
Francis Schaeffer wrote about a “Christian consensus,” which used to be present in American culture. The atheist banker and the Christian might disagree about God, but they would agree on questions about basic morality, marriage, and human sexuality. That consensus no longer exists. Some involved in politics and the legal system (including government attorneys and many judges) are not just...
Sex is like fire. When it resides in the proper boundaries it gives light and heat, but unrestrained it causes great harm. Teenagers are receiving messages about sexuality every day—from the latest Netflix series, from social media, from their conversations with friends. Parents and youth workers must not overlook the value of having their own ongoing conversations with students about biblical...
