If have an iPhone or an Android, here are two highly recommended Bible apps. Both are free:YouVersion This app was put together by LifeChurch.TV. Besides offering a huge selection of Bible versions, it has the largest collection of Bible reading plans I’ve ever seen. Clearly the people who put this app together want you to read your Bible. Th…
Three times in 1 John 1 the apostle repeats the phrase “If we say”:"If we say, ‘We have fellowship with Him,’ and walk in darkness” (v. 6)."If we say, ‘We have no sin’” (v. 8)."If we say, ‘We have not sinned’” (v. 10). The worst lies we tell are the ones we tell to ou…
A few days ago a woman stopped me and asked a question: “Where do you get your support?” I’ve been asked that a few times lately, so here’s the short answer, in bullet points:We rely 100% on the gifts of God’s people.It’s been that way since we started Keep Believing Ministries five years ago. Our funding co…
In the last three months we have shipped almost 60,000 copies of An Anchor for the Soul from our Book Depot in Chicago. From the beginning of this ministry in 2001, we have always put a priority on donating copies for the men and women serving in the United States Armed Forces. Thousands of copies have ended up in Iraq and Afghanistan.How do those …
In an article on dealing with conflict, Gordon MacDonald describes how as a young pastor he wanted to gain the “coolness of spirit” to engage in difficult conversations in a positive way: A breakfast with the chairman of our church board sharpened these intentions. I was a very young pastor, prone to making novice-level mistakes. The ch…
On May 27, 1943 the plane carrying famed runner and former Olympian Louie Zamperini crashed while on a rescue mission over the Pacific Ocean. Of the 11 men on board, only three survive the crash. Clambering aboard a woefully inadequate life raft, they float aimlessly westward, drifting toward islands occupied by Japanese troops. One of the men eve…
I received an email from someone troubled by the death of a good friend. Here is the issue put simply:My friend abused himself by eating junk food and excusing it by saying God made all good food to eat and He would live just as long as God intended him to live. To make matters worse, he had already had several heart attacks and couldn’t walk…
A few days ago my friend Paul Ward shared a bit of wisdom with me. In the course of a conversation, we were talking about how some things are hard to do. That’s when he shared something that he said Zig Ziglar told him a few years ago."If you’ve got to eat a frog, looking at it doesn’t make it any better."That’s …
As far as I know we only have one picture from the days when we were dating, and this is it. Someone snapped this picture in late 1973 or in early 1974, when we were seniors at Tennessee Temple College in Chattanooga. We were so engrossed in conversation that we didn’t even notice the photographer and therefore didn’t know about the pic…
Lately I’ve been thinking about what makes a “great” preacher. The answer must necessarily be subjective. After listening to hundreds of sermons by hundreds of preachers (some famous, most not) in various settings for 45 years, I’ve come to some conclusions about “great” sermons and “great” preachers….