March 11, 2013 Dearly Beloved in the Lord: I greet you in the name of our God and Savior Jesus Christ. I write you to also make an announcement that must come on the heels of a series of providences that both surprised me and have tried me—body and Continue Reading
March 12, 2013
Difficult but Necessary: Relinquishing Leadership in Winter to Renew in Another Season of Ministry
January 6, 2013
The Shadow of a Godly Pastor: Oh How We Need An Anointed Ministry Today!
Our people need to sit beneath the shadow of a godly pastor. "So that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them" (Acts 5.15 ESV). I was preaching at Continue Reading
December 28, 2012
The Best: A Charge to our Married Men in Seminary and a Letter to All
My beloved students in Christ, I write to you, as this old year is winding down, and we count off the hours before a new one, to remind you of the best gift God has given you. It is not your gift to preach. It is not your gift to counsel. It is not your Continue Reading
November 27, 2012 7 Comments
Advent Readings and Lightings: Pastoral Preparations for the Coming Season
I wanted to give an aid for congregations and pastors, particularly those in free church backgrounds, who want to move away from the commercialization of the season to focus on the Incarnation. That is a hard sell to be sure. But the way to do it is Continue Reading
November 8, 2012
Am I a Soldier of the Cross? A Message from Psalm 27
The Christian life is a life of undisturbed joy. The Christian life is a life of unending battles. Both of these statements are true. And that calls for help. For it is humanly impossible to hold two such polarized truths in our hearts at the same time. Continue Reading
September 3, 2012
A Prayer for the Unity of the Tribes of the Church
they said, "O Lord, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that today there should be one tribe lacking in Israel?" (Judges 21:3 ESV) Oh Father, as the tribe of Benjamin in Judges 20 and 21, turned against Thee and Thy People and the blood Continue Reading
Bulletin: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to Filibuster for Prayer as We Approach the Fiscal Cliff
Oh if only there were a Jimmy Stewart, a “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” congressman who would interrupt the “Fiscal Cliff” negotiations and cry out with the passion of an unadulterated patriotism. The cynics called it political naïveté; but the Continue Reading