Pastors need the saints’ prayers because they are ever the object of the flaming arrows of the evil one. In addition, the world is eager to run them over at any opportunity. As one of my seminary professors so illustratively put it, “Ministers have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.”... Continue Reading

Jesus’ resurrection reshapes and reorients absolutely everything—even our Sundays. Our inability or unwillingness to recognize and act on it is not only regrettable, but perhaps also an indicator of how little the realities of the resurrection hold sway in our minds, hearts, and wills. May God do a work among the Western church to recover... Continue Reading

The Rt Rev Stephen Platten, the Bishop of Wakefield, who chairs the commission, said the new wording still implied a requirement for repentance, adding that the place of the devil in the text was “theologically problematic”. However, the Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the former Bishop of Rochester, warned against the adoption of the new wording,... Continue Reading

A key cry from the PKs was: “Let me be a regular kid.” A number of the PKs expressed pain from the high expectations placed upon them by both their parents and church members. Others said that some church members expected them to behave badly because that’s just what PKs do.   It was not the... Continue Reading

Most minorities learn such skills in order to survive while living in a majority context.  Missionaries learn these skills intentionally in order to serve the people group to which they are called.  We speak here of learning cultural cues, language, the history, glory, hopes, and fears of a people group.  We speak here of “friend... Continue Reading

Pastors can be reticent to speak about the Lord’s Day, fearing perceptions of legalism or self-aggrandizement. But we need to be reminded through teaching and the example of church officers of the importance of the Lord’s Day for Christian discipleship. As Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man” (Mark 2:27). The Lord’s Day is... Continue Reading

I’m also really grateful to all of my pastoring brothers whose first charge to me, when I asked their advice, was to RESPOND PROMPTLY to applicants (many of them having had their own submissions fall into a black hole when they applied for a position somewhere!). Add to this our committee’s desire to be candid... Continue Reading

TEC has historically used the courts to punish parishes and dioceses who disagree with the denomination’s shifting theology. The group has already spent more than $22 million on legal efforts to seize individual church property and evict parishioners. At times when judges have ruled against TEC, the denomination has filed time-consuming appeals that have tied... Continue Reading

To exalt Mary to such a status as mediator is truly misguided and we should shun any arguments to the contrary. Was she special? Absolutely. But she was still just a servant of God in need of a Savior just as much as we are in need of a Savior. We are not to look... Continue Reading

Only 21 percent of megachurches were founded in the last 20 years (the median founding year: 1977), and only 22 percent were founded by their current lead pastor. The average (median) age of megachurch lead pastors is 55, while nearly 1 in 5 are under 45. Only five percent are under 40. (CT recently noted... Continue Reading