Where were you when you heard the news six years ago today? And what do you remember about that day?I was in my basement office at home, preparing for the staff meeting that would start at church at 9 AM. Around 8:30 AM Marlene called to say, “Turn on the TV. A plane has hit the World Trade Center.” I remember watching the …
During the Keep Believing board retreat this weekend, I was asked what books I have been reading lately. That led to a discussion of books in general. When I graduated from seminary in 1978, I had already amassed a nice-sized library of basic reference books—lots of Greek and Hebrew commentaries, heavy tomes on theology a …
Here are two quick updates:1) An Anchor for the Soul has just been published in French by a publisher in Montreal. We received our copy a few days ago. Originally the book was published to coincide with a conference where I’m speaking in Montreal in November but now the book has been released for the general public.2) …
I’m writing this note at the end of a very exciting day at the Keep Believing board retreat in McHenry, Illinois. This morning Peter Faulkner led us in a brain-stretching exercise that started with a discussion of intentionality and ended up with the walls covered with erasable sheets of thin while plastic filled with …
We have just posted a new sermon called Let’s Bring Back the Holy Kiss. Here’s an excerpt:There are still cultures where the holy kiss is practiced today. I’ll never forget my first trip to St. Petersburg, Russia with John and Helen Sergey. When the men of the Temple of the Gospel greeted John, one after a …
This morning Marlene and I on the road again, driving to Chicago for the Keep Believing board retreat this weekend. Starting tomorrow night our board is meeting in McHenry (located on the Fox River northwest of Chicago, not far from the Wisconsin border). Here is part of an email I sent to the board a few days ago in prepar …
I am doing a live radio interview with Kim Jeffries on KTIS in Minneapolis (and on the Northwestern radio network) from 1:10-45 PM today. Thursday update: The interview went great. We talked about Fire and Rain, my new book on the life of Elijah. At the end Kim asked me to pray for the listeners who were struggling with dis …
Sad news out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Famed pastor D. James Kennedy died this morning at the age of 76. After suffering cardiac arrest last December, he underwent a rigorous program of physical therapy but never returned to the pulpit. During his long and fruitful ministry at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, he wrote ma …
During lunch with a friend, the conversation drifted to the question of why churches get stuck in a rut and never seem to change. Eventually one key insight emerged. Every organization is perfectly calibrated to produce exactly the results it is producing. That “calibration” is mostly invisible, but it is there, and it is h …
Happy Labor Day!This morning Marlene and I celebrated Labor Day by painting one wall in our living room. When we bought our home in June, we discovered that the previous owner had hung a very heavy picture on one of the walls using anchor bolts that left two big holes. So this morning we borrowed Linda Hale’s pickup t …