This morning I’m writing this note from beautiful Gulf Shores, Alabama. We left Tupelo yesterday about 12:30 PM with Alan, Linda Hale and Paula DeCanter, driving down Highway 43, bypassing Meridian, then cutting across a country road south of Citronelle, Alabama, catching I-65 to Mobile, then across the bay to Highway …
Today is the one-year anniversary of our move from Oak Park to Tupelo. At this moment a year ago, I was sitting in the front seat of a rented truck with Craig Hammond and his son Cuyler as we tooled down I-57. Marlene and Megan drove behind us in our car. As I look back on that morning, I realize that I didn’t feel an …
Phil Miglioratti has just posted an interview I did with him on Pastors and the Struggle of Prayer. Here is the heart of the interview:All of us as pastors struggle with prayer. And that struggle itself is not sinful. It is a reminder that we are made of flesh and that something in us will fight against prayer because praye …
Anthony Bollback has posted the October issue of China Clippings. This month’s edition focuses on the spread of the gospel along the ancient Silk Road, part of the movement to take the gospel from China into the Muslim countries to the west and ultimately back to Jerusalem, where it all began 2000 years ago.
Here’s a significant statistic every church leader should know about . . . Married couples are now a minority in the U.S. For the first time ever, less than 50% of American households are made up of married couples. Here is the money quote:The numbers by no means suggest marriage is dead or necessarily that a tipping …
A friend sent this in an email and I thought it was so good that it ought to be shared with everyone. My friend hopes for . . .1) A church that prays for and supports their Pastor and Board (not because they are perfect)…but in obedience to God.2) A church where forgiveness is more important than being right.3) A ch …
Over the weekend a received a question from a friend in Atlanta asking me about the role of elders in the local church. That led me to revisit a series of sermons I first preached in 1992 called In Search of the Early Church when our congregation in Oak Park was considering a new constitution that would establish a board of …
Here is the newest sermon in the series The Transformed Life:Swimming Upstream
Consider this a follow-up to my earlier entry on My Perfect Church. After thinking about that list some more, I wanted to pare it down to a few succinct principles that could be easily memorized, I was surprised by the first thing that came to mind, and I couldn’t get it out of my mind so I left it in first place. My …
Yesterday I asked you to pray for a brother on an Asian island who was facing eternity for his Christian beliefs. I just received word that he was executed by firing squad a few hours ago. Here is one Christian’s reaction:My brother met eternity earlier today. His thirst for righteousness was filled. He was maltreated …