• How can we have an effective pastorate? • How can our ministries, our preaching, support church health? • How can we be faithful in our ministries? There is a parable for young preachers in Walt Disney's Dumbo, the little circus elephant that Continue Reading
April 4, 2013
A Call To Repent And Believe In Jesus Christ
Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord (Acts 3.19) Not too long ago I saw a bumper sticker that announced, “Jesus is the Answer.” The driver (who was speeding in fact) was Continue Reading
March 22, 2013 2 Comments
Thoughts on Faith from a Garden in March and Pastoral Ministry
For a gardener, like myself, March is an in-between month. The dried, gray-brown stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform. And like a Continue Reading
March 12, 2013
Difficult but Necessary: Relinquishing Leadership in Winter to Renew in Another Season of Ministry
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
February 24, 2013
Considering a Call Amidst the Clamor of Bigger is Better
Dear Students of the Pastoral Ministry: Charles Haddon Spurgeon had it right when he commented on Zechariah 4:10: "It is a very great folly to despise 'the day of small things,' for it is usually God’s way to begin His great works with small Continue Reading
February 16, 2013
Why This Presbyterian is Praying for the Next Pope
The picture on the opinion page of the Wall Street Journal, page A13, has a picture of lightning flashing over St. Peter's Basilica from last Monday when Pope Benedict XVI announced that he would step down. The picture is worth 1000 words, or at least Continue Reading
February 15, 2013
Growing in Joy all the Way Home
The introduction of Paul's letter to the Philippians begins not only with Thanksgiving but with a prayer for the believers in that beloved church. And within that prayer we are able to discern what St. Paul desired for the Philippians. He desired that Continue Reading
January 14, 2013
A Promise to the Persecuted Church Today
Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting a new student at RTS who has sacrificed much to come to this seminary to prepare for a life of service to the Church back in his persecuted nation. It took some creative and Providential work to get that young man Continue Reading
January 13, 2013
Finding Your Pastoral Mentor on Canvas
“Blessed are they who see beautiful things in humble places where other people see nothing.”[1] Those words of impressionistic artist, Camille Pissarro (1830-1903) have provided an aspiration, and inspiration, for my own pastoral work in serving Continue Reading
Being a Pastor and Speaking Out in Today’s Culture
A pastor I know recently told me that he was criticized for being “too political.” He has heard such an indictment all his ministry, he said. Today he leads a major ministry in America and battles daily for the rights of pastors to speak so that Continue Reading