Reflections on a Senior Pastor Search
A member of a pastor search committee reflects on the process
I’m also really grateful to all of my pastoring brothers whose first charge to me, when I asked their advice, was to RESPOND PROMPTLY to applicants (many of them having had their own submissions fall into a black hole when they applied for a position somewhere!). Add to this our committee’s desire to be candid... Continue Reading
How to Guard Against Mission Drift
Making disciples is the mission of the church, anything less is disobedience to Christ.
Make the mission of your church the filter by which you determine your yes and no. You will need to say no to some very good things that don’t hit the bullseye of what God is calling your church to do. New pastors and/or church planters have extremely high aspirations for maintaining the purity... Continue Reading
SC Court Rejects Bid to Add Bishop Lawrence to Lawsuit
Diocese is grateful for judges actions.
TEC has historically used the courts to punish parishes and dioceses who disagree with the denomination’s shifting theology. The group has already spent more than $22 million on legal efforts to seize individual church property and evict parishioners. At times when judges have ruled against TEC, the denomination has filed time-consuming appeals that have tied... Continue Reading
A Response to ‘A Defense of Calvin’s Rejection of Christmas’
Calvin did not think that we should evaluate a church on whether it “observes more festival days than the others,” such as Christmas or Easter
Readers may be surprised that Rev. Williamson’s view was seemingly not shared by Calvin. I do not represent the following as fully representative of John Calvin’s views, but as two data points. The first is a letter in 1551 to Berchtold Haller, the leader of the Reformed Church of Bern… The second is a letter... Continue Reading
Top 50 Articles on The Aquila Report for 2013: 31-40
Article numbers 31-40 of 2013
In 2013 The Aquila Report posted over 2,900 stories. At the end of each year we feature the top 50 stories that were read. The top story this year had over 20,890 hits. We average 8 new stories each day, with a variety of subjects – all of which we trust are of interest to... Continue Reading
The Historical Reality of Adam
What are we to make of the argument that nothing in the gospel would be lost if we were to deny Adam’s historicity?
May we uphold universal sin and death while discounting the way in which the Scripture says sin and death entered the world? The answer is no. The Bible does not give us that option. It clearly teaches that sin entered the world through the one action of one historical man, Adam (Rom. 5:12). If we... Continue Reading
How to Change Your Mind
A simple four step process that could transform your life by, quite literally, changing your mind
Before I reveal the four steps I want to reiterate that while the advice could transform your life, it likely will not. As with most life-altering advice, it is simple, easy to implement, and even easier to ignore. Statistically speaking, the odds are great that you’ll ignore this advice. But a handful of you will try it so for... Continue Reading
Why Do So Many People Hate Optimists?
Positive views on the present are seen as a slap in the face by people who have negative experiences
With a few happy exceptions, Christians in general have also swallowed our culture’s negative narrative and have succumbed to our innate negativity bias. We seem to be addicted to bad and sad news, and have become so used to feeding on it that we don’t even realize it. In fact, in some circles, happiness has... Continue Reading
A Real Cause for Christian Outrage
Believers around the world are dying for their faith. Where’s the evangelical groundswell for them?
Whig politician and statesman Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Whatever the root cause of Western Christian silence on the matter of global Christian persecution—be it the silence of the media, the culture wars, economic concerns, busyness, lack of global awareness, a passive... Continue Reading
The Transgender Revolution Marches Forward
A new law goes into effect in California that allows new “privileges” for transgender children.
It’s no surprise that Christian parents and other cultural conservatives would be against this new law. But I am curious to know if parents who identify as liberals are okay with this. Isn’t there a limit to how far they will push the envelope when it comes to their own children? Do they really trust... Continue Reading