Turning your patient into a man-pleaser may require employment of what we have come to call the “rope-a-dope” technique, outlined as follows: First, make things very comfortable in the church for your patient. When he is very much pleased with himself and neither sober nor watchful, but drunk on ease and set to pastoral autopilot,... Continue Reading

But there are costs to being a nation in which we’re all heretics to one another, and no religious orthodoxy commands wide support. Our diversity has made us more tolerant in some respects, but far more polarized in others In American religious history, Nov. 8, 1960, is generally regarded as the date when the presidency... Continue Reading

What I do see is that young people need a clear message. They want that. They want to hear what is right and what is wrong. There is chaos—there is ethical chaos, there is political chaos—now who will give us straight talk? Who tells us what way to go? There is a need for that... Continue Reading

The visible church is for you and me. Put away the Che Guevara t-shirts, stop the revolution, and join the rest of the plodders. Fifty years from now you’ll be glad you did. It’s sexy among young people — my generation — to talk about ditching institutional religion and starting a revolution of real Christ-followers... Continue Reading

My ministerial friends ‘Boy Band’ and ‘the Man that Derek Thomas Could Have Been’ have now dubbed me simply ‘the Anti-Celebrity Celebrity.’ Some are born hypocrites; I have found hypocrisy thrust upon me. T4G made me look like a girlyman. More of that later. When invited to do a breakout at Together for the Gospel... Continue Reading

For many young ministers, this question comes down to a question of courage. If you’re not able to turn down family members and friends who expect you to act as a wedding chaplain for them, then how are you going to turn down unbelievers who want to baptized? Gospel Coalition Editor’s Note: Even though they... Continue Reading

But not everything is beautiful! Can God show his glory in an ugly entangled dead hanging branch? Can God show his beauty in fallen limbs covered with green fungus? Running is a passion of mine and I run with God in mind. I use my running time for prayer and enjoying God’s glory that surrounds... Continue Reading

The problem isn’t that we long for something better. It’s that we long for too small of things. It’s 5 o’clock and you’re stuck in traffic with hungry kids in the backseat, and no dinner waiting for you once you get home. Hey girl. It’s cool that you made a three-course meal for the mom... Continue Reading

Since the early eighteenth century, all American evangelicals have been shaped by a desire to have an intense, personal religious experience… By contrast, the theology, piety, and practice of confessional Reformed congregations has been shaped not so much by religious experience but rather by a certain kind of confession of faith, worship, and approach to... Continue Reading

Thousands, if not millions, of church members sitting in America’s pews aren’t really born-again Christians, a Washington, D.C., pastor said April 10 to a pastors’ conference in Louisville, Ky. Mark Dever, senior pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church in the nation’s capital, warned on the opening day of the 2012 Together for the Gospel Conference... Continue Reading