“Live close to God’s people, inviting those around you to intrude on your private world and to function as God’s tools of comfort, encouragement, confrontation, growth and change. Remember, sin makes it hard for us to see ourselves objectively and accurately. Personal spiritual insight and growth really is the result of community.”   I’m not... Continue Reading

“Christians, both Protestant and Catholic, aren’t the only demographic to outstrip the general population in Congress. There also is a larger share of Jewish members of Congress (9 percent) than there is of Jewish Americans in the country as a whole (2 percent).”   The United States Congress is about as Christian today as it... Continue Reading

“The once-explosive growth of conservative evangelicals has stalled. Yet the religious left doesn’t appear to be benefiting much. Instead, the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated are growing.”   The religious left is the Sasquatch of American politics. It leaves footprints in the snow but recent sightings of the creature itself are rare, and not always... Continue Reading

“One of the primary texts about the importance of remembering God is Deuteronomy 8, which belongs to the larger context of the exodus event. In the face of Israelite slavery in the early chapters of Exodus, the promises God made to Abraham appear threatened (Gen. 15:13–16), resulting in a fundamental question about whether God can... Continue Reading

“After 47 years of being raised in a pious household, after 30 years of considering myself a born-again Christian, and after 18 years of being an ordained minister and getting to know my flock, I have come to the conclusion that me and every Bible-believing Christian I have ever met is an aint.”   In some churches... Continue Reading

“I have visited congregations where the pastor told me about the influence of The Trellis and the Vine and how he modeled his church after it. Yet when I participated in the worship and listened to the sermon and saw the programs, even for just a Sunday or two, I was not convinced he really... Continue Reading

“The real world involves upset, suffering, hardship, struggles and facing our fears.  The attempt to protect students from all semblance of reality at least has one effect.  It makes them forget about the real things that should upset them. “   Monty Python was a hilarious surreal take on many aspects of life.  It was... Continue Reading

“I saw yesterday that Carl Trueman proclaimed this volume as his pick for “Book of the Year.” This is theology as doxology and devotion. As I read it I couldn’t help but give thanks given the fact that the Son has been diminished within some conservative circles. I place God The Son Incarnate alongside my... Continue Reading

“If your heart veers toward reputation over reality, toward applause over substance, D.A. Carson’s Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor could be the most important book you read in 2017. It’s the story of his father, Tom Carson, an unheralded twentieth-century Canadian pastor who served humbly for almost six decades.”   Many of us lived as... Continue Reading

“If the Promised Land is no longer identified exclusively with the state of Israel, evangelicals like Gholston and Engoy — along with many of their religiously unaffiliated fellow millennials — are engaging their communities in ways that will upend the usual narratives about their generation.”   White evangelical Christians voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in... Continue Reading