What to say to church members leaving for poor reasons

This is a good post by Jonathan Leeman of 9Marks concerning bad and better responses to a poor reason by an individual to leave the church.  As a pastor at a church who is attempting, by God’s grace, to elevate what membership means at the church where I serve I appreciate the thoughtfulness, pastoral spirit and insight of Leeman.  Enjoy the read.

Resources for pointing your kids (and yourself) to Jesus

Justin Taylor has compiled a list of resources for children that will help parents point their kids to Jesus.  I have all of them except one and can confirm that his list is spot-on.  In addition to his list, he gives some commentary on each resource which should help parents ascertain what particular one would…

Living Righteously

Peter tells us in I Peter 4:1-2 “Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will…

Adams’ core elements in Biblical Counseling

God is at the center of counseling Commitment to God has epistemological consequences Sin, in all its dimensions is the primary problem counselors must deal with The gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer The biblical change process which counseling must aim at is progressive sanctification The situational difficulties people face are not the random…

Biblical Counseling and Inducement

Inducement means to motivate counselees to make biblical decisions conducive to change.  Here are some steps Wayne Mack states in his chapter from John MacArthur’s book Counseling: How to Counsel Biblically. Help counselees to accept personal responsibility for their desires and motivations, thoughts, attitudes, feelings, words, and actions. Bring counselees to the realization that biblical change involve…