Stanley and other seeker-friendly “creative” preachers improve upon the Text by incessant story-telling and personal anecdotes. That’s the “engaging” part of his shtick. I’ll remind you, beloved, that Jesus taught in parables not to reveal engaging and compelling truths from Scripture, but to conceal truth from those who didn’t need it at the time (Matthew... Continue Reading

The good news is that Christ has condignly merited both our justification and our salvation. Christ’s benefits were earned for us by his works. They are given freely to us who believe.  It was works for the Christ and it is grace for us Christians.   63. Do our good works merit nothing, even though it is... Continue Reading

The neglected key to college student ministry is the exhortation of Peter: “Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Peter 4:9). It actually is that simple. The vision is to build relationships with college students, relationships in which counsel and discipleship and life-togetherness will come naturally and organically. This requires hospitality. It requires welcoming... Continue Reading

And worse, what does it say to those who suffer when we give them cover? Does it reveal us to be people who are concerned with compassion and justice? Does it show us to be people concerned with the plight of the oppressed, the weary and those burdened by many sins? We tolerate Jezebel, even... Continue Reading

We are currently trying to figure out the best way to assimilate new families and individuals into these small groups. However, we are also currently working out a plan to reproduce some of the small groups that are growing numerically by breaking them up and starting new ones. Still, as we have already noted, we... Continue Reading

Those are but a few of the stupid things I did as a pastor. Most of you can breathe a sigh of relief that I never served as your pastor. So why I am writing these self-critical comments at this stage of my life? I pray that some of you may see something in your... Continue Reading

Baptist theologian Beth Newman said she hopes Kennedy’s action will spark conversations in Baptist and wider Christian life about those deeper meanings of Baptism. “As Christians, we want to say baptism is this one event, but it’s also a way of life,” said Newman, a professor of theology and ethics at Baptist Theological Seminary at... Continue Reading

In the last 40 years, what has happened instead, is that the Church of England turned its back on the Spirit and the Scriptures and gave herself to the new secularism. It has preferred egalitarianism to evangelism; it has chosen the struggle for gender parity to the struggle for the Gospel purity.   The thought... Continue Reading

We, the council of elders at Bethlehem Baptist Church, are resolved to root out all forms of domestic abuse (mental, emotional, physical, and sexual) in our midst. This destructive way of relating to a spouse is a satanic distortion of Christ-like male leadership because it defaces the depiction of Christ’s love for his bride. The... Continue Reading

Would the pastor or elders or members of the church notice if you failed to attend on a Sunday? If the answer is no, then this is another sign that your spiritual health is in danger. We need accountability, and we need it within the defined committed body of a congregation. The college years are... Continue Reading