I have been working with local church pastors for over three decades. I love these leaders. I love their hearts. And I hurt with them when they tell me these stories. Six of these stories are so common, I can almost predict them for new pastors. Of course, I hope they don’t take place; but... Continue Reading

At roughly the 21-minute mark in the convocation (link here), as Peterson is answering a question, there’s a commotion offstage. A young man rushes up and grabs a microphone, on the verge of tears: “My name is David [full name redacted], and I need help! I need help! I just wanted to meet you. I’m... Continue Reading

“I did not see the lamplighter.  I do not know his name, nor his age, nor his residence. But I saw the lights which he had kindled, and these remained when he himself had gone his way. As I rode along I thought to myself, ‘How earnestly do I wish that my life may be... Continue Reading

“Gospel” in this scheme is nothing more than the deliverance of people from societal abuses. God’s word is simply a tool of the pastor to fulfill that agenda. The congregation is slowly conditioned to expect the pastoral tangent from the pulpit every Sunday usually over one issue the pastor has become obsessed with.   I know... Continue Reading

Because “Christian apologetics” is not a monolith, it’s important to make some distinctions when answering this question. Are we talking about Ray Comfort, Sye Ten Bruggencate, and Ken Ham? Or are we talking about William Lane Craig, John Lennox, or Ravi Zacharias? Are we talking about young earth and global flood apologetics, or arguments for... Continue Reading

The preaching of the Word, the use of the two sacraments instituted by Christ (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and prayer. All these occur in public worship. As important as it is for congregations to bond together horizontally, person to person, it is even more important for the, to be united together in meeting face... Continue Reading

We ought to be aware that there aren’t enough churches in our deprived communities. Plenty of them have no church in their midst and no viable means of getting to one. So, without putting too fine a point on it, we need people to plant churches in deprived communities and, one way or another, they... Continue Reading

Like it or not, social media is setting the agenda of personal discussions in our world; people are comfortable talking about what they know their friends already have shared. So, if you want to open doors for members of the church to “go and tell” in discussion, you can help by first giving them something... Continue Reading

The church, just like disciples, is meant to be self-denying for the sake of the kingdom. Doing things which are motivated by self-preservation are opposed to the ethics of God’s kingdom. A church might even “turn around” by a good focused mission. But if the foundation is self-preservation instead of kingdom-expansion, don’t be surprised when... Continue Reading

Self-interested pastors aren’t the only people at fault, or the only people who are self-interested. Cover-ups also happen with the help of well-meaning Christians valuing false peace over justice. They happen because faithful Christians want to live in harmony with all people and rightly so until it’s not so right. They happen because we’d rather... Continue Reading