Rosaria Butterfield continually speaks grace and truth in a way that is deeply powerful and insightful. Here’s an article she wrote recently on evangelizing your LGBTQ friend. Read here. Noah Oldham on what difficulty in your life has taught you the most. Read here. Parents of children of all ages know all too well that…
I’ve written two posts (here and here) aimed at helping pastors think about engaging in historical theological work. This third post continues to point in this direction. What I’d like to do here is move the conversation towards incorporating historical theology into the actual ministry of the pastor (though much more needs to be…
After three children, I thought I had this parenting thing more or less figured out. And then we had Charlotte. Charlotte has a temper. Grocery shopping when she is not inclined to do so is a nightmare of embarrassment and anxiety. She’s defiant. I think her first sentence was her yelling at me, “No, I…
Photo by Rawpixel.com Approximately four years ago, my cousin and his wife discovered their not-yet-born son had a heart condition called HLHS. This essentially meant that when born, he’d have half a heart. Although this was difficult news, they prepared for Landon’s birth and all the unknowns of his future by striving in prayer and…
Photo by Kristina Tripkovic on Unsplash I am lost. I know loss. I am different. I do not belong. I am unwelcome. I will never be known. I will never be understood. I will never feel okay… .@paulcmaxwell Brian Bormgan defines loneliness as “a state of lacking intimacy with the people around us.” Loneliness is a complex issue. It is not simply an issue of feeling…
In a recent post, I made a short pitch for pastors to engage in a bit of historical theological work. I believe reading history and paying attention to the historical development of ideas will help the pastor and serve the church for the glory of God. You can read my thoughts here. After publishing that…
In the Bible, the very definition of passion – think of Christ’s Passion – is to sacrifice your freedom for someone else. Romans 12 addresses this truth at a practical level. Paul starts this way: ‘I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifice’ (Romans 12:).…
In a previous post where I wrote about Derek Webb and his loss of faith, I suggested that the reason why some fall away from the faith is because their faith was man-made and not God-made. That is, their belief in and allegiance to Christianity were based on human conditioning and reasoning but were not…
Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash If you were to ask ten pastors the question of what constitutes success in ministry you would undoubtedly get ten different answers. Each response may have some similarities with other responses but I imagine that the thrust of what each person said would be distinctly different. Is success in ministry proportionate to…
Recently I attended a Christian academic conference were Christian scholars from around the world presented papers on various topics. One paper I had the privilege to listen to was from Dr. J. G. Duesing, provost and professor of church history at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Dr. Duesing’s paper presented a proposal for how professors might…
