We seem to live in an age that doesn’t believe that moral training is necessary or even desirable and actually counts the neglect of it as a sign of enlightenment. Unfortunately, as the tragedies that will inevitably result from this approach pile up, instead of demanding a return to prior principles of training, people demand... Continue Reading

Therefore, if you are in Christ, sin is no longer your superior. You don’t have to listen when it says, “Come to me, no one’s looking.” You have been set free to live in the newness of life and enjoy the benefits of having a Savior who was gracious enough to live, die, rise from... Continue Reading

It’s the joyous mystery of my life that this is what I’ve been chosen and gifted to do, and I regularly pray the ardor of ministry will not cause me to lose that joy. Does joy color your ministry? Does it quiet complaint and defend you against weariness or bitterness? Has the beauty of what... Continue Reading

This is also an important moment as Americans consider a simple question: are people of faith no longer welcome as they continue to hold the beliefs they have always held? I believe the trajectory toward greater acceptance of homosexuality will continue. However, there will always be a sizable minority of people, often people of faith,... Continue Reading

Change is needed because there are things in you, or in your ministry situation or relationships, that need to be uprooted or torn down, and if change is actually going to be change, there are new things that need to be planted or built in the place of what was uprooted and torn down.  ... Continue Reading

According to Smith, “the language and therefore experience, of Trinity, holiness, sin, grace, justification, sanctification, church, Eucharist, and heaven and hell appear, among most Christian teenagers in the United States at the very least, to be supplanted by the language of happiness, niceness, and an earned heavenly reward.”   One of the stories from the... Continue Reading

Although none of the major proposed restrictions were placed on the charitable deduction, the “Pease” limitations—phasing out deductions for charitable giving, mortgage interest, and state and local taxes for high-bracket taxpayers—were reinstated and made permanent beginning 2013 to the disappointment of many in the charitable sector.   Late on the first day of the new... Continue Reading

There is, however, another threat of genocide in the Middle East. It is the religious cleansing of Christians and other religious minorities from the Sunni-dominated Middle East. This danger remains unacknowledged by President Obama and has received little attention, with few exceptions, from U.S. Christian leadership on both the right the left.     When... 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

A 27-year-old tennis instructor attending the classes also showed some skepticism. While he expressed interest in the spiritual development the course offers, one crucial detail stands in the way of his religious elevation.  “I’m not going to become a prophet,” he said. “I don’t think it pays very well.”   Instead of long beards and... Continue Reading