Posts by Harry Reeder

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A Tale of Two Advents

Harry Reeder
Dec 23, 2020
Early in my pastoral ministry, a thoughtful young man came with an interesting question while our congregation was in the midst of celebrating the Advent season. The question arose from a hymn sung during a Lord's Day worship service: the Isaac Watts classic, "Joy to the World." The question was, "...

Revoice, or God's Voice?

Harry Reeder
Nov 12, 2018
The Revoice Conference is history. When first announced with its advertised purpose statement, sponsors, plenary sessions and speakers, my Session requested I pastorally address it for them and our congregation, especially since it was hosted by a PCA church in St. Louis and contained students,...

Cultural Myths About Truth and Love

Harry Reeder
Jan 4, 2018
A witness for Christ in any age--and certainly in this present age--requires a prayer-saturated, Christ-centered, Gospel-motivated, Bible-shaped, Spirit-filled and God-glorifying commitment to "speak the truth in love." But this essential command for effective Gospel ministry to both those not yet...

Inevitable Side Effects of a Church Growth Ministry Model

Harry Reeder
Jan 5, 2017
Some athletes , fascinated with body growth, employ "biological steroid enhancement." Why? Because they know that it works...at least for a while. They will get bigger, stronger and faster...for a while. But soon they discover injected steroids also bring the side effects inevitably leading to...

The Advent Season: Not Just Christmas

Harry Reeder
Dec 16, 2016
Early in my pastoral ministry a thoughtful young man came with an interesting question while our congregation was in the midst of celebrating the Advent season. The question arose from a hymn sung during a Lord's Day worship service. The hymn was the Isaac Watts classic "Joy to the World." The...

A Five-Fold Paradigm for Voting With Christian Wisdom

Harry Reeder
Oct 28, 2016
When it comes to politics, the most frequently asked question is "who are you going to vote for?" As a pastor I seldom answer that question. I prefer answering another question which equips people to not simply know how to vote in one election but how to evaluate voting in any election. Therefore,...

The Christ-Defined Roadmap to Church Revitalization

Harry Reeder
Aug 8, 2016
The last post was an attempt to document three Biblical axioms concerning the ministry of church revitalization. Briefly let's review them: Church revitalization was an Apostolic ministry strategy initiated by the Apostle Paul on his second missionary journey (Acts 15:36-16:35). Then it was not...

Church Revitalization

Harry Reeder
Apr 21, 2016
Effective Strategy? Biblical Mandate? Both! In 1980 a young Pastor, fresh from seminary, arriving at his first pastorate encountered some startling realities. Thinking he was informed as to the condition of the church, he soon learned just how uninformed he was. When you get "onsite" you soon gain...