A little while ago, a friend wrote an article entitled “My Ministry is Harder Than Yours (and Other Lies We Tell).” The author, Mez McConnell, is a pastor in Edinburgh and one of the architects of 20schemes, a ministry seeking…
Here, signs above the water fountains said, “For Colored Only.” Certain parks, restaurants, and swimming pools prohibited all but its white guests. Distant past? No. As recently as 1960, ethnic integration on public transportation was still questionable. Home to the…
I can assure you that ethnic/race issues will not be the only, perhaps even primary, area about which I write. (Take a deep breath). I am passionate about many other things (e.g., the gospel, my family, the church I pastor,…
I detest Saturday conferences. I mean it; there are few things worse than slogging your guts out all week and getting to Friday and the horrible realisation dawns on you that you booked into that conference 4 months ago. You know…
I hope that I will be able at some point to provide a review of Tom Nettles’ excellent volume, Living for Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon (pastors and preachers, you need this book, and…
In a recent edition of Christian Renewal (date: December 11, 2013), Ruth Vandyken, in her article, “Preaching Outside the Box and onto the Public Soapbox,” interviewed Dr. Joseph Pipa–faculty at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary–and Dr. Cornel Venema–of Mid-America Reformed Seminary–requesting…
Every organization has its own language. Computer programming companies speak C++. Accounting firms talk in pluses and minuses. The armed forces use a unique language as well. We use words like, “head,” “scuttlebutt,” “grinder,” “salty.” The latter is particularly interesting…
My wife tells me that I frighten people. Whenever we are in public and I meet someone new, I ask, “What’s going on?” in a somewhat loud voice. It is not the content of my initial greeting that frightens people…
You may have heard Apple-adorers testifying of the usefulness of an application called PrayerMate. Now Google-gogglers can join in the fun, because PrayerMate has been made available for Android. Some warnings: PrayerMate will not give you a heart for prayer;…
Augustine’s Confessions is one of the great classics of Christian historical theological literature.(1) It is admired for its beauty of composition, its sophisticated literary construction, and its vivid and honest recollections of the life of its author. Some scholars would…
