Oct 24, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
As a whole, we typically do not like to deal with our own mess. I don’t think anyone truly loves admitting that they are wrong. I hate being the one to raise my hand and say, “Hey, I’m sorry – please forgive me for ______.” Just this weekend I...
Oct 23, 2019 | Podcast, Refreshment
Blindness “Put on your sunglasses,” Aaron says as we shoulder our packs outside the teahouse. He points to the blue sky and the blazing sun. “With the way the sun is shining on this snow up here, without sunglasses you’ll go blind before too long.”...
Oct 21, 2019 | Podcast, Refreshment
There is no higher vocation or more rewarding life than Christian ministry. Whatever the area of service, being in the employ of the Lord is an earthly and eternal honor. I know this to be true. For nearly fifty years, I have been privileged to serve as...
Oct 18, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
The one phrase I’ve been told over and over and over again throughout my time in the church world is: “There is no perfect church.” I hate this statement; passionately hate it when people say this to me. Why? Because it makes us sound lazy. It allows us...
Oct 16, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
Whether your church has sixty-five people or sixty-five hundred, money matters. Even so, many pastors tell me that they find budgeting to be—at best—a necessary-but-distracting process. I’ve never heard a young pastoral candidate confide that the initial...
Oct 15, 2019 | Inspiration, Podcast
When our third man cub was four years old, we experienced a year of him unexplainably waking throughout the night, screaming and crying. Troy and I (mostly Troy because he’s a very kind husband) would be in and out of bed seven or eight times a night...
Oct 11, 2019 | Inspiration
Throughout the 1990s I served as the student ministries pastor in a thriving, suburban church in Little Rock, AR, that grew from 2,000 to 5,000 attending members in eight years. In that time and place, money was not an issue. Tithes and offerings...
Oct 9, 2019 | Pastor's Life, Podcast
I’m a firm believer that the world needs more churches and more pastors. However, there are some pastors out there who are doing more harm to the church than good. I’ve spent the past two years trying to encourage and equip small town pastors to grow...
Oct 7, 2019 | Perspectives, Podcast
As we begin another presidential election year, followers of Christ may have sentiments like recent election cycles. Many of us see both good and bad in the competing positions of those seeking office, but we despair over the incivility and contempt...
