Articles
Three Pastors and a Lesbian
It’s not a setup for a bad joke. This story really happened. My friends and I were taking an Uber to a local pizza place after attending a missions conference in Houston, Texas. All three of us were church planters, which means we split the fourteen-dollar charge for...
You Want It All? Surrendering Every Part of Me
If you’re like many believers, you feel confident you’re past the magic-lamp phase of prayer. You understand surrender. You understand God’s will. And yet, no matter how good we are at surrender, we each hold on to something in our lives. That one thing we keep...
From a Life Without Limbs to a Life Without Limits
Nick Vujicic came into the world with no arms and no legs, but only a six-inch appendage with two toes on the left side of his torso, and no medical explanation. The whole church wondered why God would allow the pastor’s son to be born with such a birth defect. But...
Five Action Steps the Church Can Take to Care for the Lonely
“Mark, I don’t even know where to begin,” Matt stated as we talked over coffee. “The needs of my church are so great that I often feel paralyzed. I don’t know what the first step should even be.” It can seem overwhelming for a church to care for the vast needs of the...
Hot Button Political Conversations for Believers: 5 Ways to Keep Your Cool and Your Witness
Today as a minister of the gospel we must manage hot buttons issues that can quickly sabotage the mission of God. Like many pastors today I went to seminary which for the most part is training to reach people already in the fold. But what if these hot button issues...
Definitions
A few years back, I was representing my Camp at a Christian Youth Conference. To encourage people to stop, we usually tried to have something “fun”. In the past, we used drawings for prizes, free candy, illusions, balloon animals, and more. This year, however, I...
What is Intercultural Evangelism?
Sadhu Sundar Singh, a beloved Christian from India, told a story of a high-caste man in India who collapsed from heat exhaustion while waiting on a railway station platform. He explained, someone ran to the faucet, filled a cup with water, and brought it to the man in...
Answering the Entrepreneurial Call pt 2
A lot of images come to mind with the word entrepreneur. There’s a Silicon Valley stereotype that includes a button-down shirt with a Patagonia vest. A lot of people will think of someone young, someone working in technology. Few people would think of a gardener. But...
Answering the Entrepreneurial Call
The word calling has dominated Christian circles in recent years, and it has taken on a mysterious power that no one seems to have nailed down. Does God call people into certain jobs and professions? Is calling a special spiritual experience? Are some people called...
Love Your Enemy
When we read what Jesus says about loving our enemies, it can be tempting to soften his words. Can we take this another way? Maybe he didn’t mean it! Unfortunately, he’s pretty clear. In Matthew 5:43-48, Jesus says to love our enemies and to pray for those who...
Basic Beliefs Matter
BASIC BELIEFS OF SECULAR HUMANISM There is no God There is no devil The Bible is full of myths The universe is self-caused There is no such thing as sin There is no after-life judgment Gender is what you want it to be Heaven and hell are make-believe There is no such...
Are You Praying Like an Adulterer?
“Unanswered” prayer always stings, but when we consider what God might be up to in his supposed silence, it can lessen some of that sting. Corrie ten Boom, who survived a Nazi concentration camp, said that any suffering becomes bearable when you know its purpose! God...
The Warrenton Declaration on Medical Mandates, Biblical Ethics, & Authority
“The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.” –Psalm 103:19 Preamble With the rise of COVID-19 and all of the attendant ramifications, it has been incumbent upon the church to come to terms with what it believes related to the...
Why “Influencer Culture” Is Putting Your Child in Danger
Emily scrolled through her Instagram feed entranced. Friends. Acquaintances. People she’d never met. All of them posting their latest grasp for approval, represented by that all-so-important number . . . likes. A guy named Ethan just posted a picture of himself posing...
Everyone…Called
Without a doubt, being a child of God means being unique. Without a doubt, God made you for a purpose, and He wants to use your unique self to impact this world. How, then, can it be that every follower of Christ is called to the same thing? If we are all unique with...
Innovation Takes Courage
What if there was an explosion of innovation in the church today? Imagine the effects of innovation on discipleship, community, racial reconciliation, hospitality, and giving! These are just some of the giants waiting for ministry leaders to tackle. These are outward...
First Nations Version: An Indigenous Translation of the New Testament
LONG AGO, IN THE TIME BEFORE ALL DAYS, before the beginning of all things, the Great Spirit created the spirit-world above and the earth below. At that time our mother earth was an empty wasteland with no form or beauty, and great darkness was over the face of the...
God’s Call to Welcome and Embrace The Addicted
Drug addiction is killing people just like you and me: fellow image bearers of God who are moms dads, uncles aunts daughters and sons From February 2018 to February 2019 alone, 69,000 people died of drug overdoses. This problem has grown markedly worse during the...
Superheroes Needed!
It’s Them! Superheros Like an intense, action-packed Marvel movie, the stage is set, and the head-to-head battle between Light and Darkness is coming to a head. It’s taken decades to get here with the last six months progressing at warp speed. Many of God’s people are...
The Difference Between Giving Up and Letting Go
All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware. Martin Buber In many situations in life, our instinct is to fight it, fix it, and seize control. But very often, the Lord is asking us to do the opposite. He’s asking us to let go. Surrender is...
