The pastor is called to be a shepherd. Shepherding is quiet work involving feeding, caring, leading, and protecting. This isn’t sexy, big, glamorous work. It’s daily and mundane, often behind closed doors. It’s done in counseling sessions with weeping spouses and beside hospital beds. It happens on Saturday nights when preparing the sermon.   Four... Continue Reading

Since the fall, the world has been locked into the “life-death cycle”. But  as the Son of God rises, death starts to work backwards. Life flows generously and abundantly from and through Jesus into the bodies of those who knew him (the “saints”). Suddenly the life-death cycle becomes the life-death-life cycle. It is a powerful... Continue Reading

Seeing sin as a parasite has helped me come to grips with some of the shocking sins in the lives of people I’ve long admired. The parasite targets the healthy, the strong, and the good. That’s how the sin grows in power.   This month marks the 500th anniversary of the posting of Martin Luther’s Ninety-Five... Continue Reading

The vice president reiterated the Trump administration’s commitment to defending religious groups persecuted by ISIS, announcing plans to visit the region in December and a strategic shift away from funding “ineffective” United Nations programs. Instead, Pence said President Donald Trump has directed the State Department to send aid directly through USAID and faith-based partners.  ... Continue Reading

He provides the backdrop to this designation by saying, ‘The whole world is hostile to Christ; no one stands by him’. Made all the more graphic, given the imminence of Gethsemane and the appearances Jesus would make before the Jews, Pilate and Herod – alone in the face of the hostile mob bent on settling for... Continue Reading

There are presently many discussions and a plethora of books about what women’s ministry ought to look like, and how to form mentoring relationships. It’s not a novel concept that instruction in a mentoring relationship can go both ways. But have we fleshed out the notion in specifics?    Some years ago, I received an... Continue Reading

Probably few events in Luther’s life rival the representative status of the dedication service at Torgau. There we see a notable singularity of purpose. That singular purpose reveals Luther’s significance in both his day and, five hundred years later, in our day. That purpose may be expressed simply as the pure worship of the true God... Continue Reading

“The ratio of boyfriends sexually molesting kids compared to biological fathers (and even married step- fathers) sexually molesting kids (theirs or anybody else’s) is, for lack of a better term, ‘crazy high.’  If you had to pick one demographic feature that could predict if a kid was being sexually abused or not, the answer to... Continue Reading

Wycliffe’s teachings were harbingers of the fuller Reformation to come. He viewed the Scriptures as the final authority for the Christian: “Forasmuch as the Bible contains Christ, that is all that is necessary for salvation; it is necessary for all men, not for priests alone. It alone is the supreme law that is to rule... Continue Reading

It’s true the reformers never used the term “inerrancy.” But this objection fails to realize that though the term was not used, the concept was affirmed. Though the reformers didn’t flesh out the idea of inerrancy as meticulously as we have today (after all, inerrancy wasn’t their main battle with Rome), the basic concept and its most fundamental components are present... Continue Reading