“Applying the Bible” doesn’t quite get at it. That comes across to me as a bit quiet and clean. Gardening is full of grunting, sweat, dirt–and sometimes holding your nose. Read the Bible with a pitch fork, garden rake, and shovel in your hands–not with rubber gloves and tongs delicately turning over crackling pages of an ancient... Continue Reading

It was a sneaky thing that Victor Hugo did, publishing this book 150 years ago. We can’t have Bibles in schools anymore, but still we have “Les Miserables,” which puts forth the essence of the Christian faith as well as John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke — and with a much better soundtrack, it must be... Continue Reading

The church is thankful for Dr. Bumgardner’s thirty years of faithful preaching….Preaching that has been faithful to the Word of God and to the Glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Not only has he been a faithful preacher, but also a faithful pastor to his flock and to many others in our community with his... Continue Reading

Deborah Conner Jones, wife of PCA Teaching Elder James A. Jones, Jr., went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ on Saturday, December 29, 2012, after a lengthy bout with metastatic breast cancer. She is survived by her husband and two daughters, Sarah E. Jones and Lydia R. Jones. Shortly before her passing into glory... Continue Reading

With apologies to triskaidekaphobiacs reading this, here are 13 trends that will impact the American church in 2013. Some are obvious, some not so obvious. The first four, became obvious in the aftermath of the 2012 national election. Triskaidekaphobia? It means the fear of 13. This being the year 2013, it’s an issue. It’s not... Continue Reading

According to some, religion isn’t merely about following rules, but it is also about becoming a good person. One is good by the deeds s/he does. But if religion is simply about acquiring goodness on account of your merits, do you really need religion? There are plenty of good people, comparatively speaking, who are agnostics,... Continue Reading

Pastors, do something this week to remind your wife how thankful you are for her in all these unseen, overlooked labors of love she does to serve you. Remember all those Sundays she stayed home with sick kids so you could preach and be grateful. That is her ministry so you can do your ministry.... Continue Reading

Adoption and orphan care and foster care are not a covert means of evangelism any more than Christians having babies is a form of reproductive evangelism. It’s simply Christians love children, and part of what it means to love children is to share the gospel. Russell Moore, dean of the School of Theology at Southern... Continue Reading

Spurgeon’s depression could be so debilitating that he could “weep by the hour like a child”—and not know why he was weeping. To fight this “causeless depression,” he said, was like fighting mist. It was a “shapeless, undefinable, yet all-beclouding hopelessness.” Even though Charles Spurgeon lived about two hundred years after John Bunyan, I think... Continue Reading

First, many of the books of the Bible are stories. They are meant to be read as stories, and you understand them better if you read them that way. Others, such as Paul’s letters, are not stories, but if you read one of them in one sitting, you get a good sense of the overall... Continue Reading