The quest for a subjective experience of the love of Christ apart from Scripture also often comes in the form of superstitious readings of nature or providence. One sees a rainbow or a beautiful sunset and thinks, “This is a sign of God’s love for me.” Someone narrowly escapes a near-death incident and thinks, “Now... Continue Reading

“I also think, ten years later, the younger members of our tribe seem less restless than we did when we started. For all the flack the millennials take in the wider culture, the millennials I meet in the gospel-centered tribe seem more mature, more settled.”   I never set out to “join a movement.” I... Continue Reading

“Ask them about church finances and seek documentation. A financial crisis can devastate your ministry, yet it is one of those topics we tend not to think about when considering a pastoral position. Theology? We think of that. Methodology? Check. What happened to the last pastor? Got that. Finances don’t often rank as a vital... Continue Reading

“The leaders of Black Lives Matter are telling Americans they have something to do right now. My question: why does Corey worry about fundamentalism and not about Black Lives Matter? His answer might be that Black Lives Matter has a point. But what if fundamentalism has a point? Would that make extremism okay?”   Benjamin... Continue Reading

“Pornography is an acid to this kind of holy ambition. The problem is not only that the person addicted to porn spends so much time with it, though that is a problem. A much larger issue is that pornography invites its user to enter into a private world of fantasy, pleasure and power, and it... Continue Reading

“This complicated history of minority and white relations in the U.S. could make it awkward for those within the white majority when they humbly submit to minority leadership in sacred spaces, voluntarily sacrifice their majority status, and serve in sacred spaces under minority leadership in minority contexts. Their willingness to do so is a beautiful,... Continue Reading

“The very reason we pray is because of God’s sovereignty, because we believe that God has it within His power to order things according to His purpose. That is what sovereignty is all about—ordering things according to God’s purpose. So then, does prayer change God’s mind? No. Does prayer change things? Yes, of course.”  ... Continue Reading

Mr. Wagner acknowledged that Hillsong risked being criticized for participating, but said the documentary “fits right into the church’s M.O.,” which includes the evangelist knack for “being right at the forefront of using every kind of media possible to bring God to the secular popular consciousness.”   Michael John Warren, the director of MTV documentaries... Continue Reading

This is the brave new world in which we live – a world where anyone and everyone can “make a name for themselves”, even despite the name they were born with and given. But unlike Genesis where God, in judgment, came down and confused their languages, perhaps now God is doing something far worse: letting... Continue Reading

I read this book multiple times in the 1980s. Though I’ve not reread it since, I still cite from memory many significant Lovelace insights: “characteristic flesh,” “the sanctification gap,” “n-step sanctification,” “the need for a tuned and adapted form of nouthetic counseling.”   There is not another book quite like Richard Lovelace’s The Dynamics of... Continue Reading