Feb 2, 2024 | Personal Development, Spiritual Growth
Who told you that the Bible is God’s Word? Do you trust this person with your life? The person who asserted this claim probably has some credibility with you, if not some influence and perhaps even authority. This person is asking you to base your entire life on this...
Jan 23, 2024 | Church Matters, Devotion, Inspiration, Pastor's Life, Personal Development
Here’s God’s honest truth—you aren’t the only one who’s looked giving up straight in the face. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? There’s one feeling that frequently overwhelms me when I’m in the thick of trial: a sense of being alone. I’m the only one who’s...
Jan 23, 2024 | Church Matters, Leadership, Pastor's Life
Ministry Challenges There is a place for visionary leaders and wise guides in both very large and very small communities. But the bifurcation of congregational sizes creates a world in which a small number of ministers have great autonomy, financial security, and even...
Jan 22, 2024 | Church Matters, Inspiration, Leadership, Missions
Steeples were designed to point to God. The concept of architecture reflecting theology and meaning is a relic from antiquity. The architectural elements of a classic church building are part of a centuries-old word picture summed up in the word “church.” “Church”...
Jan 19, 2024 | Church Matters, Pastor's Life, Personal Development
“If you take my son, we’re done!” Drew screamed as he sobbed into the steering wheel of his car in the hospital parking lot. Drew had just come from the neonatal intensive care unit, where his son, Linden, lay in his mother’s arms. Linden had been born prematurely and...
Jan 16, 2024 | Church Matters, Leadership, Leadership
I was devastated when one of my seminary students, a pastor of fifty-plus years, said, “I feel like neither my life nor my ministry has made any difference.” This thoughtful, kind, and intelligent man believed his efforts had been all for naught. Yet he had served his...
Jan 13, 2024 | Church Matters, Devotion, Editor's Pick, Personal Development
When I stepped down from the platform, a lady approached me. I knew what she was going to say. I had just finished an enthusiastic and biblical rationale for prayerwalking as an intercessory practice for our communities. I greeted her, and then she said it. “Janet, I...
Jan 12, 2024 | Inspiration, Pastor's Life, Perspectives, Spiritual Growth
Why can I remember the hospital transport person who graciously pushed my wife’s wheelchair as we left the hospital when my daughter was born, but for the life of me, I cannot remember his name? While his name might escape me, his gentleness and candor do not. I do...
Jan 9, 2024 | Church Matters, Inspiration, Leadership, Pastor's Life, Personal Development, Perspectives
WORK IS THE GREATEST OPPORTUNITY many of us have for fulfilling the calling of Christ and his command to love our neighbors as ourselves. Reflect on that statement. What if every Christ-follower really believed that? Building sewage systems, creating businesses,...
