Father's Day is a day to remember that God made dads. And when they break, and they can and often do, only He can fix them. 2 Samuel 18:24-19.2; Proverbs 17:6; Ephesians 6:1-4The Bible is very practical and plain, sometimes disturbingly so. Like in the 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stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform.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
June 24, 2012
A Pastoral Prayer for the Lord’s Day Based on Psalm 149
O Father, how beautiful and true is Thy Word in Psalm 149. I, too, desire to join the company of the saints to praise Thy name. It is the highest expression of our God-shaped humanity to be able to raise our hearts and minds towards our Creator and render Continue Reading
May 14, 2012
Preaching on Mission (Matthew 4:12 – 17): Keynote Message at the National Conference on Preaching 2012
There has never been a more important time to talk to preachers about preaching on mission. The landscape of Old Christendom is like an abandoned strip mine, with huge, gaping, ugly craters, filling now with the most horrid debris and litter. These Continue Reading
April 25, 2012
Every Pastor Should Only Have One Sermon
Dear Pastoral Students in the Gospel of Christ: I want to bring you a charge as we approach the conclusion of this season of study. My charge to you is to preach one sermon. This is what I mean. If we read Paul right, then this former blasphemer could 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 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
A Conspicuous Absence: Why There is No Separation of Church and State Outcry on North Carolina’s Proposition One Debate
Joshuajohanson / Foter I was appalled. A sign in front of a Baptist church in Charlotte openly advocates its opposition to Proposition One in North Carolina. The proposition, which is due to go to the ballot in NC on May 8, 2012, reads: “Marriage Continue Reading