Myth 4. You should judge your message based on how well you did: So I’m a recovering performance addict. In my early years of preaching, I was obsessed with ‘how well I did.’… The early questions were far too much about me and not nearly enough about the content or the audience. As someone once... Continue Reading

But with dwindling reserves—the IMB now has enough cash for only two more years at its current rate of spending—expenses needed to be cut. In November, CT examined whether the situation spells the end of the full-time missionary. “The financial realities are clear,” Platt told CT at the time. “[I]n order to get to a... Continue Reading

The idea that a pastor would sometimes say uncomfortable things and impose discipline is foreign to many congregations today, but that is because for more than a generation we in church leadership have promoted the pastor-as-life-coach model while never talking about the hard road and the narrow gate that leads to salvation. Our parishes need... Continue Reading

  Conservative evangelicals have tried to counter such trends with their own publishing efforts — salvos in what a recent Christianity Today editorial called “the New Battle for the Bible.” Two years ago, Kevin DeYoung, a prominent Michigan pastor and co-leader of a national network of theologically conservative churches, published Taking God at His Word:... Continue Reading

Let us be sure that when we go looking for the approbation of Christian antiquity, that we are not chasing some romanticized ideal of what constitutes the genuine and the pure. The current “chase” after Lent convinces this writer that the evangelical pursuit of romantic ideals is like a stallion, still needing to be tamed.... Continue Reading

“The idea of having an Ofsted inspector sitting in on your church youth group or Sunday school to see if you are an extremist is, I have to say, highly offensive,” the institute’s president Colin Hart wrote. “Ofsted is hardly equipped to judge the intensely complex and sensitive issues of private religious instruction. … It... Continue Reading

It seems that in today’s culture, there is a dearth of pastoral leadership. Pastors must become better leaders. Pastors should avoid the foolish mistakes of dictatorial leadership or indecisiveness. Pastors should listen longer and be patient with people. Pastors should learn and apply timeless as well as contemporary leadership insights and lessons. But of all... Continue Reading

It is a simple but also profound fact: When God raises up a leader, that leader will attract, multiply and mobilize other leaders and to ensure their perseverance, effectiveness and maturity God will raise up and send other leaders to work in tandem with them.   On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95... Continue Reading

The greatest impact I have made as a teacher and a minister has been not through preaching to crowds or teaching classes, as vital as those are. It has been those individuals who have walked with me beyond the classroom or small group in normal, everyday life, talking about ministry and theology to be sure,... Continue Reading

We don’t need more didactic moments that simply tickle the minds of those who thirst for more information; we need the forming of the heart though great sermons powerfully delivered. People need truth that shapes hearts into the obedience that comes through faith so people can be doers of the Word and not just hearers... Continue Reading