So, we should speak up when the government decides it knows best about our personal information and freedom. We cannot sit idly by while they decide to store the phone numbers and names of people we call, touch the private parts of 13-year olds in the name of airport security (using a system that is... Continue Reading

On one level, families and Christianity reinforce each other on the level of plausibility. The responsibilities of parenting often drive people to (or back to) church. At the same time, Eberstadt points to the Christian narrative’s dependence on family language, such as God the Father, and God the Son. At a deeper level, Christianity’s social... Continue Reading

Like an adult in a jetliner is instructed to don the oxygen mask herself before tending to her child, so those entrusted with the care of the congregation are to make sure they are in good position themselves. This is especially important when we realize that the congregation is the “church of God.” I heard... Continue Reading

With the advent of Internet technology, with its near universal reach and its promise of secrecy, pornography has been weaponized. In some sectors, especially of our young male populations, it is nearly universal. This universality is not, contrary to the propaganda of the pornographers themselves, a sign of its innocence but of its power. In... Continue Reading

We can talk about prayer, teach about prayer, write about prayer, and even lead corporately in prayer – all without anyone knowing that personal prayer is sporadic at best. John, a leader in a church I assisted as a consultant, admitted to me what I’d heard before from seminary students and church leaders alike: “Dr.... Continue Reading

Theologians get real tight in their making of distinctions, and when I say I don’t believe in miracles today, I don’t believe in the tight kind of miracle in the very narrow sense where a miracle is defined as a work that occurs in the external perceivable world; an extraordinary work in the external perceivable... Continue Reading

All of us can be tempted in this direction when we are not given what we want and proceed immediately thereafter to throw out of our little prams whatever toys we happen to have. And what can one say about the consistent failure of the Christian twitterati, from the least to the greatest, to understand... Continue Reading

It gives personal pastoral access. A small church’s pastor knows the members’ names. He sees them in their homes and encounters them in places like the frozen yogurt shop. He is not too busy speaking at national conferences to attend to the needs of his little flock. He provides spiritual support in all situations from... Continue Reading

So if your church is considering college ministry, know that loving students isn’t always the easiest. They will probably eat you out of house and home without saying thank you, want to blare music at a much higher decibel than you would choose, and may even wreck your church van without reporting it. But they... Continue Reading

In the end, the church fathers teach us a very important truth. The NT canon we possess today is not due to the machinations of later church leaders, or to the political influence of Constantine, but due to the fact that these books imposed themselves on the church through their internal qualities.   How do... Continue Reading