Sep 8, 2023 | Church Matters, Leadership
This topic surfaces in almost every church consultation or interview we do. People in smaller churches believe that megachurches have taken—or “stolen” as they often say—their families. The matriarch in one interview certainly thought so. She named almost a dozen...
Sep 5, 2023 | Church Matters, Leadership, Personal Development, Refreshment
Practically everywhere we turn today, we find someone we care about experiencing some sort of marital crisis. And the fallout does not just impact the couple themselves. Children, extended family, church community, and overall cultural health are all negatively...
Sep 1, 2023 | Church Matters, Leadership, Personal Development, Perspectives
Social media likely shapes the people you love and disciple more than you do. What are you going to do about it? I think there are, simply speaking, two wrong ways to approach social media: 1) uncritical embrace and 2) passive ignorance. These are two ends of a...
Aug 29, 2023 | Devotion, Inspiration, Personal Development
As the calendar year winds down, as the days darken and grow short, as Christmas songs spill from crowded stores and children set about making wish lists for Santa, the church’s year dawns. On the fourth Sunday before Christmas, Advent begins. The first day of Advent...
Aug 25, 2023 | Devotion, Inspiration, Personal Development
It’s easy to believe that once you graduate, get married, get a better job, settle down, or [insert whatever other milestone you’re hoping to reach next], you will have more time to focus on Bible study, prayer, and other spiritual disciplines. Quite the opposite is...
Aug 22, 2023 | Church Matters, Devotion, Inspiration, Perspectives
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made. John 1:1–3 I’ve never been much of an empirical thinker. While I was growing up, the languages of physics, chemistry,...
Aug 18, 2023 | Devotion, Inspiration, Personal Development, Perspectives
What does the word meditation mean to you? Some see it as spiritually dangerous or discount it as simply not for them. In reality, meditation has deep roots in the Christian faith. Psalm 1 sets a precedent for Christians regarding meditation. Originally written as an...
Aug 15, 2023 | Church Matters, Inspiration, Personal Development, Perspectives
There are moments when a single truth seems to cry out for focused proclamation. For me one of these moments came in the early 1980s; freedom in Christ seemed the truth in need of focus. When I looked at the people I was living with as pastor—fairly affluent, well...
Aug 11, 2023 | Church Matters, Editor's Pick, Inspiration, Personal Development, Perspectives
As I’ve wrestled with understanding my own worth, I’ve heard a lot of self-positivity messages reminding me no matter my body type, job, parenting style, or social status, I’m valuable and “worth it.” In many ways, it’s refreshing. We see posts on social media or even...
