When a church commits to counsel people, they are saying that they are willing to get down in the trenches of daily life and love people with the redemptive compassion of the Incarnate One. They are saying that good preaching, as important as it is, is just the beginning of ministry of the Word not... Continue Reading

Be a learner not a knower. Be a server not a master. Be a listener not a speaker. Go with only the expectations that you are open to God’s plan and you want to be used in any way he wants to use you. Go with the heart that you have been sent by God.... Continue Reading

Benjamin Johnson, whom Bishop Cummins sent to South Carolina to receive the African-American Episcopal churches and people, wrote, “It is enough for us to know that we have accepted the Divine policy. In its true Catholicity our Church is no ‘respecter of persons’; Barbarians, Scythians, bond and free, have their rights of the Church and... Continue Reading

The problem, as I see it, is not with the lack of imagination of this new generation, but with religious institutions themselves—many of which have allowed their leaders to become rock stars, their communities to become clubs of like-minded believers, and their doctrines to become rigid, with an over-emphasis on discipline and damnation for things... Continue Reading

What began to emerge was a consistent and controversial pattern—one that might damage Woodberry’s career, warned Smith. “I thought it was a great, daring project, but I advised [him] that lots of people wouldn’t like it if the story panned out,” Smith says. “For [him] to suggest that the missionary movement had this strong, positive... Continue Reading

I would put forward the idea that we who hold to biblical truth without giving in to the “god of numbers” are not splitting theological and meaningless hairs at all, but seeking to uphold the very foundations of the Christian Faith. I believe those who measure the success of their ministry by the “nickels and... Continue Reading

While all Christians affirm the necessity and reality of the experiential dimension of faith, the experience must be grounded in and accountable to the Word of God. This is of central importance to the question of worship, for, left to our own devices, we will be inclined to seek worship that meets our desire for... Continue Reading

But we are deceived if we think we’re free because we have no commitment. In reality, Christians who think they’ve made no commitments, who believe themselves free, are slaves to the worst kind of obligation: commitment to self. All of our personal histories should be enough to convince us that the First Christian Church of Me is... Continue Reading

Following David in this, as well as all the examples he sets for us is neither to embrace moralism nor legalism, but an effort to grow in our faith – to look to God to save us and work through even as David did.  Insofar as David demonstrates the spirit of Christ, he sets an... Continue Reading

Like everything else, you need a divine calling to do it, persevere in it, and get joy in it. But you don’t see a lot of immediate fruit in lecturing. You do it in faith, believing that some years down the line a student will remember and use what you taught them and use it... Continue Reading