So this is Christmas.At 5:00 this evening we'll have a high-octane Family Celebration with music, drama, and word coming from our G-Force Children's Team. Having seen the rehearsal, you can expect to be blown away.Then at both 7:00 and 9:00 we'll host Candlelight...
I love the last line of the Apostles' Creed: [. . . I believe] in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen.While the Creed may not have the same level of authority as inspired Scripture, it nevertheless represents the best of the collective wisdom...
My cyber friend John Meunier has a interesting post on house to house visitation on the part of pastors.The timing was ideal.Just last evening, I went "blessing houses" with another preacher friend -- this one from Huntersville and he's a man I've met him in person...
On Sunday nights from 5-7 p.m. this fall, I'm going back to seminary.At Good Shepherd Church.Huh?Yeah, seminary at Good Shepherd. I'm in a class called Living Hope For Shattered Times taught by my friend Steve Klipowicz who is a professor at nearby Gordon-Conwell...
Several years ago, I heard a teaching about the curse of knowledge.It goes like this:Once you know something,you forget what it's likenot to know that thing.That's so true. And especially applicable to the world of faith and church.Once you know the bible stories, you...
After almost 20 years of full-time pastoral ministry, I believe I have a reasonably good understanding of how it works. Or how it doesn't.So what are those things that a pastor needs to avoid if he or she will have both an effective ministry and a vibrant spiritual...
Colossians 4:12 says this:Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.What an interesting phrase: wrestling in prayer.We...
Pastoral leaders are supposed to help people navigate change. It's part of the territory.Sometimes I do it well. Other times I don't.But someone said something a few months ago that has stuck with me: People don't fear change. They fear what they'll lose in change.How...
I John 2:15 puts it this way: "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."The "world" in that setting refers to the values and attitudes that shape culture. In our day, it applies equally to the...
Yesterday, as I was sitting in a seminar for 25 pastors from the Western North Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church, the following question popped into my head:is a church gathering for therapy or for doxology?In other words, is the purpose of preaching...