Articles
Is The One Pastor System What God Intended?
Like many of you I was saved and baptized in a church with one pastor and a deacon board. The pastor and deacons took care of most of the decisions required to keep the church functioning on a day-to-day basis. As a 15 year old boy, this system seemed to work pretty...
Pastors as Homemakers: Shaping the Christian’s First Family
A few years ago my wife and I attended a small international church in Limassol, Cyprus. Among the congregation were several Filipino domestic workers who led the singing, a couple who were refugees from Syria, about twenty Cypriots, and four pastors!...
Quiet Time? Haaahhhhhhh
Quiet times, huh? Does that phrase instantly make you feel guilty, like you don’t do enough when it comes to your spiritual life? There are two opposing lies about quiet times, and both can drag us down: It’s the law. It’s optional. You might be assuming...
The Place Where FOMO Becomes FOBI
One might think the term FOMO is a rather new term, but according to Wikipedia it was made popular over 10 years ago. For those of us who can’t keep up with such “new” words, this might be the first time we have ever even heard or read of such a term. FOMO, or Fear Of...
The One and Only
When I was a young girl, my dad told me a story about a well. He said, “Human beings are like wells. Every time we interact with someone, we take a little bit of our water to give them something to drink. But over time, if we continue to give from our...
When Sacred Space Intersects Secular Space
Driving down “church row” in small city USA, I would often wonder why we don’t fill our sacred spaces with the secular during the week in response to our call to reach our community. Seeing all of that space available and going unused always bothered me. Some churches...
The Secret to Staying Energized
What would you say zaps your strength? The kids? Your job? The soccer schedule? The unending housework? If you’re talking to other tired moms, chances are you’ll hear them point to external circumstances as the primary reason they’re exhausted. But the truth...
WAITING FACES IN FAR AWAY PLACES
You see the pictures regularly, and you hear the pleas for help. Somebody flashes a photo up on your screen of the most pitiful little face who seems to come from a far-off place, and your immediate thought is that they are simply tugging on your heartstrings to...
Bloodline
The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed.” (1 Samuel 2:10) What the prophet Samuel learned as he...
Opportunities
“Make the most of every opportunity.” (Colossians 4:5b NIV); About this time last year, I had a chance to spend some time with the man that mentored me spiritually when I was in high school. He now lives in Birmingham, AL and I was there for a few days attending a...
Mended
As a counselor and a student of the Bible over the years, I recognized that there are three kinds of forgiveness: From God From a person you have offended To another person when you have felt offended In this chapter we will share verses about these three distinctives...
5 Myths We Believe That Keep Us From Rest
Just like Aretha Franklin so famously sang, “R-E-S-T-I-N-G is supposed to be so good for me, R-E-S-T-I-N-G what’s that? Please help me!” Ok so we all know that The Queen of Soul never quite belted those lyrics, but I have read them in the eyes of countless pastors,...
Unlocking the Joy of Giving in Your Congregation
Giving is the fruit of a discipled believer. The amount may be limited by circumstances, but not by the lack of an uncomplicated and generous heart. Just like every ministry, a church must be built upon a solid foundation. The cornerstone is Jesus and we anchor the...
Found
adjective: discovered after a deliberate search; located, recovered, brought back Imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure...
The Most Underrated Mission Field in America
When we talk about areas in need of gospel-centered churches, American church leaders usually focus on secularized areas where Christianity is uncommon, unpopular, or unheard of altogether. We think of places where churches are not found on every corner, and where...
5 Ways to Support Your Pastor’s Wife All Year Long
1) Give her a gift- something that you know she likes that she doesn't have to share with anyone else. This tells her she is known-- and loved-- by you. 2) Take her out to coffee- take time out of your busy day to listen. God gave us two ears and one mouth for a...
The Messiah Tree
If the Old Testament had a tree nursery in it, it would be found in the book of Isaiah. It is the Grand Central Station of trees. Isaiah’s prophecies overflow with trees and metaphors involving the land as they return again and again to describing the coming of the...
The “God-of-the-Gaps” Objection
A common defense of the materialist approach to science is to say that positing the supernatural as an explanation for any aspect of nature commits the error known as God-of-the-gaps—plugging divine agency into current gaps in scientific knowledge. The argument...
Habits That Transform What Matters Most
I remember the discussion like it was yesterday. I was sitting with a pastor friend of mine, and we were enjoying a cup of coffee and good conversation. I was expressing my recent ministry struggles and how, as a young pastor and a newly married man, I was feeling...
GOD IS WITH US IN ZOMBIELAND
“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint” (Isaiah 40:31 NIV) Life is hard, fast, and complicated, and we are easily distracted by the demands …...
