It is the pastor's job to help his church leadership deal with sexual sin in a loving, healing, restorative, yet morally uncompromising way. If this means a young pregnant woman must come before the Elders, and the young man who sinned as well, and confess and repent, then it must be done. If it means the Elders must pronounce forgiveness to them, it must be done.

If there are no good churches in an area, DON’T MOVE THERE. Do not kid yourself you can drive and fellowship comfortably at a church 1.5+ hours away; that you’ll just “worship at home;” that you’ll start a church plant or that “things will work out.” This is the equivalent of marrying the unbeliever because you’re sure you can convert him.

A manager in the IRS’s Mid-Atlantic region said in October that the agency had suspended audits of churches suspected of breaching federal restrictions on political activity. A 2009 federal court ruling required the IRS to clarify which high-ranking official could authorize audits over the tax code’s political rules. The IRS has yet to do so.... Continue Reading

Another orthodox Anglican Bishop raised the specter of (Presiding Bishop) going into Federal court since there is a plurality of jurisdictions (NY vs. SC) and an amount at stake of more than $75,000. By going into federal court, she bypasses entirely the state Supreme Court Dennis Canon ruling and gets a new bite at the apple. While (the bishop) cannot get her hands on parishes because the Dennis Canon has been ruled out of court, she could go for the diocese's downtown headquarters.

I know people respond differently to art and I’m sure this will be true of Lincoln. (9% of Rotten Tomatoes critics have given it a “rotten” review, for reasons I cannot fathom.) But, for me, watching this film was not just enjoyable and engaging, but also stunning and transformational.

Andy says it was after that exchange that he started popping up in his father's sermons, not as the heir apparent, but as the Old Testament villain, Absalom. Absalom was the charismatic but treacherous son of David who tried to snatch his father's kingdom away from him through war. "My dad at the time fashioned me as an Absalom who had rebelled against him," Andy says. But Andy himself felt betrayed.

Petraeus also preached about the significance of spirituality, according to Army Chaplain Col. Brent Causey, who spent 13 months with the general in Afghanistan. At least four in 10 service-members stationed there attended chapel, Causey said. "It was a reflection of Gen. Petraeus and his leadership in placing importance on spirituality,"

How many Sundays did they actually spend with the communion of saints in public prayer, public reading of Scripture, public preaching, partaking of the sacraments—did they ever meet with an elder or pastor? If these things are not a part of the normal experiences of young people, they’re not really connected to the church

At every stage—justification, sanctification, glorification— we come with empty hands, seeking mercy from our heavenly Father. Even at the point of our obedience as Christians—we are to “work out [our] salvation with fear and trembling”

As a Christian and as a pastor, I will never retreat on the issue of marriage. It’s just too important. I will continue to teach and preach what the scripture says on whatever platform the Lord allows me to stand on.