You won’t hear pastors express these frustrations often, but they are very real. Indeed, some of these issues hinder their ministries. Here are ten of the most common frustrations, followed by close approximations of quotes I’ve heard from pastors. Church members who treat church attendance as a low priority. “We have families who treat soccer... Continue Reading

Not all of us labor directly in the field but we all live in this same cursed world. The same reality will be true for us until Jesus returns or until we return to the ground out of which mankind was created. Our labors will be mixed with pain, sweat, and thorns. Working and living... Continue Reading

So instead of platitudes, let’s sit with our hurting friends. Let’s cry with them. Let’s hold their hand and listen. Let’s mourn with them. Let’s pray for them. And let us remind them of the One who wept for them, who bled for them, who even now catches their tears, and who will one day... Continue Reading

In the quest to restrain perceived nagging, manipulation, and gossip among women in the church, we forgot for a while to encourage and receive their voice of wisdom. To value their voice. I think the tide is changing among conservatives on this issue. As Mark Driscoll’s voice and influence has died in reformed evangelical circles,... 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

Our cultural engagement has to be more than those reductionist approaches. We have to do more than ask, “Does this cultural artifact (movie, book, show, Super Bowl commercial) agree with my worldview?” That is the fundamentalist approach, exemplified by the NARAL tweet and recent Christian history. Christians must go beyond our own “sympathetic press and... Continue Reading

David has a sudden surge of sexual desire and acts on it recklessly and impulsively. Whether by strength or seduction he takes what is not his. Then the deed is over and right at this moment we can make an observation about a small detail in the text. After the text’s description of David’s deed... Continue Reading

Contra both antinomians and neonomians we affirm the abiding validity of God’s law and its proper use in the Christian life. The antinomian says that because Christ has satisfied the law as our substitute, we no longer have to obey it. The neonomian says that Christ’s obedience to the law was only the beginning, that... Continue Reading

However, there remains another much more negative possibility, one which I consider more likely as a general explanation (of which there could, of course, be exceptions). It could be that source critics desire to eliminate final contexts of specific statements so that the final authority of a given text is eradicated. A text without a... Continue Reading

People get sucked away and lost forever on the second or third or fourth visit immediately following a church service (and especially during any waiting periods- like before a fellowship meal). This is the black hole of time. Initial hellos have been said. Handshakes have been exchanged. So everything is supposedly good now. The regulars... Continue Reading