Articles
The Wisdom of Set Times of Prayer
Looking back in history, it’s apparent that God’s people utilized set times of prayer to habituate and enrich their prayer lives. Historical Foundations of Set Times of Prayer We know that “Judaism prescribed prayer three times a day: after daybreak, before sunset,...
30 Crucial Questions for Premarital Counseling
Like many pastors conducting premarital counseling for couples, you probably feel like you never have time to cover everything. Homework is crucial, but often, the young man and woman fail to complete that. I’ve discovered some vital questions the couple might ask...
Leading Adaptive Change in Your Church
As faith leaders, most of us became leaders because there is a God that we love, and there are people that we love, and we want to introduce the people we love to the God we love by building a church, a ministry, a school, or an organization that they would love....
Building a Disciplemaking Culture in Your Church
“A disciplemaking culture? What is that?” No one should be surprised at the confusion this phrase causes. Its two main concepts, disciplemaking and culture, are famously difficult to pin down. Since we already chased down a robust definition of disciplemaking, let’s...
The Power of Transformational Leadership in Adaptive Change
When trust is gone, the transformational journey is over. Adaptive change requires leaders to face the challenges of a changing world or disrupted environment with hard decisions around core values, with hard questions about what we need to learn (and unlearn!), and...
Reviving Marital Love Through God’s Power
Many clients who receive marriage counseling say things like “I no longer love my spouse” or “There’s no love left in our marriage.” The sentiment expressed is that love is almost mystical, the result of a complicated combination of attraction, chemistry, and numerous...
Overcoming Leadership Resistance
When the going gets tough . . . most leaders freak out. We don’t want to think it is so. We love the idea that if we are called on to call the shots, we will rise to the occasion and lead our teams through any challenge with creativity, poise, and patience. But...
Unanswered Prayers: Finding Faith Amid Silence
As a little girl, I would stand in socked feet on top of my dad’s shoes while he tried to teach me how to dance on the yellowed kitchen linoleum. “When it’s your wedding, you dance with your dad first,” he said sternly, “only when I let the groom cut in can he take...
Book of Common Prayer
How the Book of Common Prayer Shapes Our Faith Nearly fifteen years ago, I was at a weekend retreat off the coast of Washington—there were wood cabins, homey food, occasional views of the snow-capped Olympic mountains. Good friends were the speakers, and I went...
Collect Prayers Journey
I began writing short prayers, or what is simply called a “collect,” on March 15, 2020—the day that our country shut down on account of the coronavirus. At first, it was simply a way for me to cope with my own fears over an uncertain future. I’d written such prayers...
Resurrection and Life
Hope deferred makes us sick, doesn’t it? Our hearts long to be fulfilled. It’s a sign of being alive. And during this moment of being alive, there’s nothing we can do that doesn’t converge on the life of Christ. “He is before all things, and in him all things hold...
Finding Belonging in Church
I could see her out the corner of my eye. A woman from church who I did not know well lingered just off stage, clutching a notebook to her chest. She was clearly waiting for me, but I paused to give myself a moment. Tiredness had settled deep in my body, and my...
Enduring Leadership Lessons
No other crucible does more to develop personal wisdom than the crucible of enduring challenge. Although we wish our life and our leadership responsibilities were consistent from day to day, they rarely are. Though every leader faces enormous challenges that require a...
Habit of Discipleship
How to Start the Habit of Discipleship In Your Family What’s a small, regular habit that has a surprisingly large impact on your life? Maybe you drink more water during the day when you fill a big bottle of water in the morning, or breathing a prayer right after...
Effective Pastoral Care
"Precision Pastoring: Nourishing the Caregiver's Soul" "Are we serving you well?" The unexpected question from two pastors caught me off guard, prompting a moment of reflection. As pastors of a large Nashville church, their humility in asking about their ministry's...
Miraculous Bible Stories
I love the Bible, even the weird parts—maybe especially its unusual stories—and read it aloud every morning before dawn (followed by a sometimes off-key hymn greeting the new day) with my wife, Cindy, who continues to recover from a stroke that affects her speech....
Eternal Love with God
This life we live now is significant and important. But even it is ultimately a temporary expression of an ensuing, enduring reality that is best described as us, united to God in Christ, living a married life with Him forever. Indeed, this life will one day be seen...
YouTube and Kids: Is It Safe?
Sometimes, our brains store utterly unimportant childhood moments in our long-term memory, causing us to wonder, Why do I even remember that? Well, one of mine involves the first time I heard about YouTube. It was 2008, and I was in third grade. As my classmates and I...
Church Plant Survival
Avoiding a Core Meltdown Church Planting Lessons for Church Plant Survival Church planting can be the “toughest job you will ever love”. It can be highly rewarding, yet equally devastating. On the average, only 68% of church plants survive into their fourth year....
Benefits of Humor
Understanding the Benefits of Humor What is humor? Humor is defined as the capacity to express or perceive what is funny. This capacity begins to develop at an early age. Infants form a sense of humor by watching how others respond to their different behaviors. We are...
