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Male & Female He Created Them
Being part of one of the relatively few denominations that still ordains to church office only those who meet the Biblical criteria, I sometimes resonate with whoever the comedian or cartoon character was who was noted for saying: “Nobody understands me.” While that is a bit of an overstatement, as I do not stand alone,…
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Advent Conspiracy
For many Black Friday – the day after Thanksgiving – marks opening day for an exciting month long contact sport – shopping! For many others it is just one more cause for anxiety. In the midst of the seasonal hubbub, take a moment to watch this short video from the Advent Conspiracy. Share the joy…
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Chrysalis Factor
There are times I feel somewhat like a sea captain who took charge of a ship that had experienced unprecedented prosperity under the direction of his predecessor, and then sprung a leak a few months into his tenure. Don’t get me wrong, I love the church where I serve, but some of the challenges came…
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4 Questions to Help Know Right From Wrong
Jerry Bridges, in his contemporary classic Pursuit of Holiness, writes: “Years ago a friend gave me what he called his ‘Formula: How to Know Right from Wrong.’ The formula asks four questions based on three verses in 1 Corinthians: 1. ‘”Everything is permissible for me” – but not everything is beneficial’ (1 Corinthians 6.12). Question…
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Intolerance of Contemporary Tolerance
I recently finished reading D.A.Carson‘s excellent book, Intolerance of Tolerance. It was a long time coming, with several starts and stops and re-starts along the way, but in the end it was well worthwhile. The stops and starts were in no way reflective of the readability of the book. It had more to do with…
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Warped Christianity
Sociologist Christian Smith introduced the phrase Moralistic Therapeutic Deism in his book Soul Searching:The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. Smith, and his colleagues, assert that, from their research, this would be a fitting description of the spirituality of the typical American teenager – a spirituality they gained from watching and listening to their Baby…
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Resources to Help Us Navigate Our New Cultural Reality
The Elders of the church where I serve as pastor met, as usual. Part of our discussion, however, was anything but usual. While it is not uncommon for this group to discuss subjects to help us more effectively minister, even setting aside occasional Saturday mornings to delve into variant viewpoints of issues that affect peoples’ lives,…
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The Deconstructed Gospel
What is the gospel? My first semester at seminary I showed up feeling called by God to become a pastor and I couldn’t say what the gospel was. Sure I had an idea. Isn’t the gospel that we’re “saved by faith” or that “Jesus rose again”? The word gospel comes from the Greek word that…
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Seeing the Cross With Bi-Focals
Is is essential to keep together these two complementary ways of looking at the cross. On the human level, Judas gave him up to the priests, who gave him up to Pilate, who gave him up to the soldiers, who crucified him. But on the divine level, the Father gave him up, and he gave…
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Top 3 Needs of the Church Today
The late great John Stott was asked: “What are the top three needs of the church today?” Here is Stott’s prophetic three-fold response: The church’s most basic need is to remember what kind of community it is, and in particular its double identity. For God calls his people out of the world to belong to…
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Wise Words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Wise words from Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Nothing can be more cruel than the leniency which abandons others to their sin. Nothing can be more compassionate than the severe reprimand which calls another Christian in one’s community back from the path of sin.”
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Here We Stand: An Evangelical Declaration on Marriage
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage yesterday, a diverse coalition of Evangelical leaders, gathered by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, drafted and released the following statement. Had I been asked – and if I am asked – I would gladly add my name. ~ WDG *** As evangelical Christians, we dissent from…
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Bounded-Set vs Centered-Set
Some time back I posted a piece titled Numbering Those On the Ranch, exploring the concept of what missiologist Alan Hirsch refers to as a “centered-set” metric for evaluating a church. More recently I stumbled across a post by Bob Thune, of Coram Deo Church in Omaha, explaining his understanding of Centered-Set verses the more…
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