It has attained the status of a Christian motto: “Attempt great things for God.” Some people are surprised to learn that these words aren’t in the Bible but were spoken by the pioneering missionary William Carey. As disciples of Christ,…
Chaplain Mike Gilson in the Spiritual Care Service unit of San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center shared about his visits with a Vietnamese patient and husband who both spoke little English. The wife had terminal cancer, but later on…
There’s an old trope that gets applied to a lot of different subjects, “It’s both an art and a science.” Whether the skill in question is drilling wells, acting, or writing fiction, this is a way of conveying that there…
Recently, my friend Adam Parker wrote a helpful article reminding us that a pastor is not an hourly employee. In his article, Adam describes how the work of pastoral ministry is difficult to quantify and more time in the office…
One of my favorite things is getting together with other pastors and asking them how their ministry is going. Most of the time a pastor will say that things are going great, and then he will share some of the…
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. . . .a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7) A pastoral colleague recently bemoaned, “It feels like I get hammered if I…
Many of us who grew up in the D. James Kennedy era of Evangelism Explosion embraced the idea that spiritually mature Christians should be involved in formal and methodical one-on-one evangelism. The same is true of those who were influenced…
Herman Melville’s Moby Dick is an intense and rather gothic tale of seaman Ishmael’s experience whaling under captain Ahab. It’s a well-known story of obsession, revenge, mania, and ruin–the typically edifying material or a great American novel. As everyone familiar…
Big works of God in this world begin small with ordinary people of God working for the glory of God. Many hands make light work. And many hands accomplish much work. This is how revivals begin, Reformations are launched, churches…
I’ve tried not to be, but I can’t help it…I’m a Baptist. I’ve read all I could about pedobaptism, I’ve talked to many friends, I’ve prayed for wisdom and clarity, and in the end, I’ve been all the more convinced…
