• 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
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stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform.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
May 9, 2012
Remembering the Legacy of D. James Kennedy in My Life and Ministry
A producer and film crew from Truth In Action Ministries – formally Coral Ridge Ministries — came to our Charlotte campus today to shoot some footage for a special production on remembering the late Dr. D. James Kennedy. The thoughtful visit gave me Continue Reading
April 9, 2012 1 Comment
I Will Not Let Go of Easter
I will not let go of Easter. More properly, I affirm that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is not something that I will celebrate and remember on one day of the year. In the Reformed faith, that is in the Protestant faith of Martin Luther and John Calvin Continue Reading
March 21, 2012
On the Occassion of the Baptism of Infants: A Letter to Pastors-to-Be
auntjojo /Free PhotosMy dearest students in the pastoral ministry and colleagues in the Gospel of His grace: There is no greater joy in the Christian ministry then holding an infant in your arms, slipping your hand into the baptismal font, scooping up Continue Reading
March 18, 2012
Letter to a New Pastor in the Springtime
In the springtime when the golden, Welsh daffodils gather in glorious brigades—brave, young, mythical sentinels appearing out of the fertile earth, guarding a new countryside painted with a Creator's palette of happy color—and spring lambs are born; Continue Reading
December 1, 2010 Leave a Comment
An Advent Message: Mary’s Song
The following post is the first in a series of Scriptural messages called "The Songs of Christmas: Advent Meditations on the Incarnation." Each week a new Advent message will be prayerfully presented. I pray that families may use these for Advent Continue Reading
A Letter to a Friend in Ministry on Development
I recently received a letter from a friend with a request on thoughts about development. I sought to answer his questions and, in the process, think about our students and what they will face in expectations for stewardship in ministry. I share this with Continue Reading