It’s important to forgive repentant pastors, but not to restore them to pastoral office for years or perhaps ever (depending on the nature of the sin) because Paul’s qualifications pertain to the character. A pastor is an extraordinary ordinary Christian. A pastor is a teacher and a pattern setter. An example. Therefore, he must be... Continue Reading

They [Jerusalem Council] imposed the first rule to keep Christianity distinct and holy unto the Lord — clearly not optional! The prohibition against eating “what has been strangled” enforced the rule against eating the blood of animals, a command that was never meant only for Jews…And so is sexual morality. From the beginning and throughout... Continue Reading

“As we studied the Bible together, I realized that sometimes followers of God get notoriety and riches, but a lot of times they get dragged outside of the city and are stoned to death. As we studied God’s Word together, I started to really believe that things seem so hard in this world because none... Continue Reading

“God made men and women different from day one of creation… sorry, day six. He meant for men to fill certain roles and women to fill certain roles. We are one body in Christ made of individual parts, each functioning in their own way. One person is not to infringe upon another or take it... Continue Reading

When we think of submission, we often think in terms of ruling and overruling, of conflict and wielded authority. I want to encourage you to think of obedience and submission differently in this context. Certainly, it does mean that when sin is evident, when you are in need of confession and repentance, you ought to... Continue Reading

McLaren was looking for a Church 2.0 to fit a World 2.0. but the mistake he made was to assume the world had changed at its core, when in fact it had remained the same, and merely had changed the trappings.  A bit like Sixty Minute Makeover.  All of the soft-furnishings and paint jobs in... Continue Reading

Communities that are arguably in most need of the social supports churches provide are the communities where churches seem to be vanishing—and where new, upstart church activity is not happening. In 2016, a Barna Group study of 769 church start-ups found that half of them were in wealthier locations. Brooke Hempell, the senior vice president of research... Continue Reading

Jesus Christ is the King and the only head of the church. He mediates the presence of God to his people when he stands in the midst of the people of God who are gathered together to worship the living God. Jesus acts as the worship leader of the people of God (Heb. 2:12). He... Continue Reading

Remember that you are ultimately accountable to God for your preaching. Serve an audience of one, namely, God. You should not preach to meet your own needs, nor to gain appreciation and applause, nor to impress people, nor out of fear of criticism. Learn to live with delayed gratification in Christian ministry, because it is not... Continue Reading

In this post we are examining the way that individual believers operate within the organizational structure of the church. Foundational to all of this is that we must all maintain an intimate spiritual relationship with God. All the items in this list come after that.   Focused individuals are critical to the success of the... Continue Reading