Larry Norman once asked “Why should the devil have all the good music?” Whether we agree with Larry about the use of rock music to praise God or not, we can ask a similar question about Padraig: Why should we let the world pretend that remembering St. Patrick is about getting drunk on March 17 every year?
Wisdom For Ministry
Soul Care and Eternal Security: What’s a Pastor to Do?
We all know that pastors can’t deal with the threat of spiritual shipwreck simply by lobbing Bible verses like hand grenades. Isolated proof-texts aren’t intellectually convincing or spiritually edifying. We need a holistic view of the teaching of the Bible and how it has been understood historically. Are you up to wading through a post on this topic?
Thank God for Deacons, but what about . . .
Can women be deacons? Can divorced people be deacons? I don’t hear much about deacons at all these days, let alone about these two questions. Maybe our culturally-driven preoccupation with prominent pastors and other high profile Christian leaders draws our attention away from the multitude of faithful deacons who serve Christ anonymously in churches all over the world. In this post we’ll spend a little time reviewing the New Testament teaching on deacons and then speak to the two questions raised above.
Preaching Hebrews means preaching like Hebrews preaches.
Preachers tend to avoid Hebrews. It’s long and involved. It’s full of scary warnings. It probably wasn’t even written by Paul! But its message is vital for those who practice convenient Christianity today. What’s more, it’s a goldmine when it comes to showing us how to preach. Preaching Hebrews means preaching like Hebrews preaches!
Is Love Really All You Need? Reflecting on Marriage
Recently I was honored to be the officiant at the wedding ceremony of a family member. Preparing for the ceremony led me to revisit the eternal question about the meaning of love. Here’s the reflection I gave during the ceremony.
Power in Weakness: A Conversation with Tim Gombis about Paul’s Vision for Ministry
In this post I preview Tim Gombis’s recent book Power in Weakness and link to a conversation I had with Tim about the book. It’s appropriate that we focus on this book during the Easter Season, when we commemorate the events that first transformed Paul’s vision for ministry. Paul encountered the risen and exalted Lord Jesus on the road to Damascus. There he began to understand cruciformity. Easter is never over. It’s the beginning, not the end.