Latino Immigrants Are Evangelizing America

First-generation immigrants are leading the Latino evangelical expansion in the US—drawing in more unchurched believers and new converts than the average church plant, despite having smaller congregations, less funding, and tensions surrounding US immigration policy.

4 Qualities of People Who Should Have Your Ear

So while a pastor should hear everyone, there are a select few to whom one should listen. In fact, who you listen to might be more important than the executive decisions you make early in your ministry.

So again I ask, pastor, who has your ear?

The FAQs: What You Should Know About Purity Culture

Where purity culture has failed is in keeping the focus on the body and on sex rather than on Christ.

5 Tips for Being Disciplined without Being Legalistic

Salvation is by grace alone, and living the Christian life is by grace alone also.

God Does His Greatest Work Through Simple Acts of Obedience

God did it then, and he still does it today. He overturns unjust world systems through weak people walking in obedience.

3 Reasons Your Church Is at Risk of Decline

Your local church is fragile. As one who believes strongly that the local church is God’s chosen vehicle to reach the world and our own communities with the gospel, of Jesus Christ, I want to understand why this is a reality.

Through my personal examination of this, there are three primary factors that make American local churches fragile.

Sometimes Jesus Lets People Walk Away

Many of our problems in living for Jesus stem from the root problem that we think we can do it. We assume we have the power. So we set about trying to push the camel through the eye of a needle.

5 Ways to Help Kids Communicate Well on Social Media

Social media add dimensions to communication that make it different from face-to-face interactions. Ignore the impact of those dimensions, and you and your child will say and do things you regret. Understand the virtual world’s challenges, however, and you and your child can turn them into catalysts for personal growth and developing stronger relationships.

Readings in African-American History

Narrowing African-American history to a manageable number of books is nearly impossible. The offerings are so voluminous and various it’s overwhelming. 

But we have to start somewhere. Ignorance is too lethal a disease to leave untreated. Too many people do not know even the basics of the African-American sojourn. 

So, below is a short list of representative titles that ought to be in every library. 

I Kissed Rating Goodbye

But here’s the other thing, and it’s probably connected with that: those Old Reformed dudes, er, gentlemen, who guided me when I first started theological training, didn’t really get off on the word “Reformed”.  They just didn’t talk about it that much at all.

What did they talk about? They talked about Jesus. All of the time. It’s as if they were really, really close to him. They were keen to showcase Jesus from all of the Bible. Keen to show how the doctrines of grace impacted every aspect of a Christian’s personal life, ministry and worship.  Keen to show its pastoral implications, not its sassy pretensions.

Here is your daily round up.

Why Secular Church Started So Well, but Finished So Poorly (and Quickly)

It’s interesting that of the groups to survive, it’s those that were built around ex-religious people who replaced love for Jesus and the church with distrust/dislike of Jesus and the church, that have survived.  In other words, communities need to have a centre, even if it’s a negative one.  As it turns out the desire for community itself is not strong enough to hold the community together.

J. I. Packer’s Thoughts on Holiness

There is no holiness or Christian life that does not have repentance at its core. Repentance is not merely one element in conversion, but a habitual attitude and action to which all Christians are called. It is, argues Packer, a spiritual discipline central to and inseparable from healthy holy living. 

Were the Gospels Written by Eyewitnesses? 

https://youtu.be/C_Nco7aq58A

I Deserve This: One of My Heart’s Favorite Lies

For those of us who are in Christ, let Megan’s “I deserve this” moment be a cautionary tale. As much as we are drawn to humility in others, we are prone to prideful self-promotion ourselves.

One Man’s Fall is Another Man’s Warning

What do you do when you hear the story of a Christian leader who disqualifies himself from ministry? Do you judge, critique, or assume motives? “Stupid failure,” you might think to yourself. Don’t say it. Instead, when you hear of a Christian leader who disqualifies himself from ministry, consider yourself warned.

Where Did Family Come From?

So what is a family, anyway? Where did it come from? Who has the right to define it?

Does God Love You? You Own Tangible Evidence.

Have you ever received the silent treatment after offending someone? It’s not pleasant. Sometimes it’s deserved; sometimes it’s not. Though Adam and Eve deserved the ultimate silent treatment for all eternity, God initiated a conversation. He stooped to speak. He pursued a relationship with rebels, one that would require the death of his only Son to repair.

Toy Story and Identity

What should Christian leaders and members do when they are not uniform in some matters, particularly important matters involving things like “race” and racial injustice or politics and voting? For those interested to maintain unity where there may be significant disagreement on important ethical matters, here are twelve things to apply from Romans 14:1-15:7. (I apologize in advance for the length. But, hey, I’m only blogging here once per week!)

How Men Can Grow in Godliness

https://vimeo.com/340012529

Here is your daily dose. Have a blessed day.

3 Types of Legalism

How does one keep the letter of the law but violate its spirit? 

Does Church Membership Matter?

So should believers join their local church?

9 Things You Should Know About the Communion Service on the Moon

This Saturday marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, when astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people in history to walk on the Moon. But it’s also the anniversary of the a lesser known event—the first celebration of the Lord’s Supper on the Moon.

Why Teens Must Read the Bible for Themselves

https://vimeo.com/290984929

Don’t Reduce Your Sheep to Their Usefulness

Families are meant to meet each others needs, and service in the body of Christ brings blessings. But pastors need to guard against the temptation to evaluate their members according to worldly standards of usefulness. People can sense when they are being valued more for their gifts than their souls.

How Can We Be Sure if Christianity is the True Description of God?

5 Reasons to Disentangle Sexuality and Race

But as strongly as the Bible cuts in favor of mixed-race marriage, it cuts against same-sex marriage for believers. Part of me wishes this wasn’t true. I’ve been romantically attracted to women since childhood. Were I not a Christian, I expect I’d be married to a woman today. But whichever way I hold my Bible, its message on marriage remains the same. And as I’ve dug more into the Scriptures, I’ve come to understand the purpose of marriage more deeply, and how the love-across-difference of marriage pictures Jesus’s love for us.

3 reflections after my first year as a Christian

I once heard someone compare the way we treat new Christians with the process of having a baby. You wouldn’t carry a baby for nine months, endure labour, take your bundle of joy home and then leave them to fend for themselves with the throwaway advice, “food’s in the fridge, TV’s through there, diapers in the bathroom…”. Similarly, we shouldn’t just tell new Christians that following Jesus is about reading God’s word, speaking to him in prayer and enjoying fellowship with his people and expect them to thrive. And yet, that’s often precisely what we do.

Marriage Isn’t the End Goal, Why Do We Treat It Like One?

To put it simply, a marriage will implode on itself if it’s using its own ease and happiness as a measure of success. If the relationship is committed to being transformed and loving as a choice, however, conflict gains new purpose. Disagreements are no longer grounds for dismissing the relationship, but opportunities for the connection to deepen as both parties pursue a purpose bigger than themselves. Contracts fall apart when people change their minds, but a covenant remains because it’s a commitment to something greater than oneself.

Confessions of an Arrogant Heart

I first titled this article “Confessions of an Arrogant Soul,” but I changed it for two reasons: First, an “arrogant heart” is a biblical phrase I’ve seen throughout Scripture (Psalm 101:5; Isaiah 10:12). Second, I wanted to use the word heart because in my struggle with arrogance I’ve had to confront the fallenness of my own desires.  

For there was a part of me that loved my arrogance. It established deep roots in my heart. And in my pursuit of this sin, I did the following:

I drove through the remnants of Berry on the way to Homes of Grace in Mississippi, on a mission trip with my son and the youth from Watson Chapel Baptist Church, pray for us.

A Deeper Look at Immigration & Potential Targets of the ICE Raids

Using this national debate as a backdrop, it seems helpful to ask some basic questions: Are certain religious groups going to be hurt disproportionately by these immigration policies? What do immigrants who come to the United States look like? What are their racial backgrounds? What are their religious traditions?

How to Teach Your Kids to Study the Bible

But while encouraging our children to read the Bible and teaching them how to do it well are necessary tasks, they are not sufficient for spiritual development. We also need to teach them how to study Scripture so that they “may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:17).

Well Let’s Just See…

2019 has been a distressing year in the West. New York State passed legislation sanctioning pregnancy termination at any point in gestation. A Northern Ireland court, just last week, handed out a custodial sentence for the brutal claw-hammering-to-death of a chihuahua cross pup. Correctly such cruelty was punished by the judge. Yet very few even blink at more barbarous crushing of skulls of a viable human fetus by the forceps of a qualified obstetrician. Tears of water should stream like rivers from our eyes – man’s inhumanity to man has trampled divine law. This is but one example of the destruction of foundations of any civilized, godly, society.

Ten questions for pro-choice people

This debate is always vitriolic, and as a result, often deeply unintelligent. Most people (on bothsides) are content with sharing facile memes and purile soundbites. I want to avoid that tone, if I can. It’s not the strong language I have a problem with (vital issues call for forceful language), but the ignorant ways that opinions are often voiced, and the consequent refusal to engage in rational discussion.

How to Prioritize Your Spouse in Ministry

https://vimeo.com/330591924