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 …
I just discovered a weblog called Of First Importance. Its purpose is simple and highly focused—to produce a new quote each day from a noted writer to help Christians live for the good of the gospel.One quote a day.Always about the gospel.This is a wonderful idea and an excellent use of blogging. Here is the quote for Augu …
After months of waiting, college football kicks off later today. There were a few games on Thursday and a few more yesterday, but this is the real beginning. Later today we’re heading to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis to watch Ole Miss take on the Memphis Tigers. Nick came over from Birmingham so he could go to the game …
All week long we’ve heard the sad, sordid story of the senator from Idaho who has been accused of hypocrisy because he was allegedly soliciting gay sex even though he voted against gay marriage. Chief among the complaints is that the senator practiced in private what he condemned in public, and that complaint is stret …
Yesterday I received my copy of Teen People of the Bible by Daniel Darling. Subtitled “Celebrity Profiles of Real Faith and Tragic Failure,” this book examines some of the better-known “teen people” of the Bible, starting with Cain and Abel, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Esau, Joseph, Moses, Rahab, Samson, David, Jonathan, S …
We have just posted a new sermon called Why We Pray. Here’s an excerpt:In the last two years God has led us in a new direction. After almost 27 years as a pastor, I now lead Keep Believing Ministries. And after spending all our time in large cities (Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago), we now live in Tupelo, Mississippi. As …