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Impressions of The Shack
Inquiring Minds Want to Know: What do you make of The Shack? To be quite honest, I do not know what to make of the book, The Shack. My impression is that the author, William P. Young, made a noble attempt to explain some of the more difficult questions about God, and did so in…
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Cancer Suggestions from Johns Hopkins
I received the following Update in an e-mail. It describes findngs from Johns Hopkins University about causes and preventative measures that guard against cancer. Having gone through treatment for colon cancer, I thought this worthwhile to pass along and preserve. *** 1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard…
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To Speak or Not to Speak
I am torn. According to a recent article by the Florida Baptist Witness, a group of concerned citizens are recruiting pastors to challenge a 55 year old law that prohibits non-profit organizations, including churches, from endorsing specific political candidates. Practically speaking this law empowers the IRS to censor the content that is offered from church pulpits. …
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Idol Factory
John Calvin said: “The human heart is a factory of idols… Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.” This truth is difficult to convey. Few people think of themselves as idolators. And when I as a pastor, or a friend, suggest to people that they – like me –…
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Centered on the Gospel
What does it mean for a church to be gospel-centered? That’s a popular concept these days. What if we were scrambling to be law-centered? The difference may not be so easy to see. Ray Ortland adresses this question with keen insight and simplicity in his brief post: Centered On One or the Other. And what…
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Teenagers: Tendency Toward Legalism
Do you remember a Brady Bunch episode where Greg and his parents got into a debate about “Exact Words”? Greg, who had been grounded from driving, when confronted about borrowing a friends wheels, insisted that his parents only instruction to him was that he was not drive the family car. The rest of the episode is an illustration of the difficulty…
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Is “Missional” Just “Evangelistic”?
In his book The Present Future, Reggie McNeal reveals the contrasts in the different ways leaders can think about the church and its ministry. McNeal reveals the different paradigms that pastors can have as they fulfill their ministry in the church. Being missional is first a shift in thinking about the nature of the church.…
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Revivals Begin With God’s People
“Revivals begin with God’s own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the Valley of Dry Bones… Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If…
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A Missional Church IS…
A missional church is rooted in the purpose of God, and understands that God is on a mission to reclaim a People for himself and restore a Creation to it’s orignal beauty. This is known as missio dei – Mission of God. A missional church recognizes that our culture in North America is no longer an…
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Teenagers: Lacking a Hunger for Wisdom
No one likes to be corrected, but the wise person learns to appreciate correction that comes from a reliable source. Proverbs 13.18 tells us: He who ignores discipline comes to poverty and shame, but whoever heeds correction is honored. This is a lesson all of us need to remind ourselves. But according to Paul…
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Resurging Calvinism
Jonathan Dodson, of Acts 29 Network, has posted a great synopsis of beliefs in an article titled: The Message of Resurging Calvinsm. This falls into the category of: I Wish I’d Written That – it so simply and concisely summarizes what I have been teaching at Walnut Hill Church. Dodson clearly describes 5 areas of important Faith distinctives: Gospel…
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Teen Tendencies & Temptations
The teen years are both exciting and exasperating as young men and young women try to find themsleves and find their place in this world. When I think back to my own teen years I am regularly filled with a feeling wishing I could have a do-over, in every sense of that phrase. There are some aspects of my teen…
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New Look @ Proverbs 31 Woman
What difference would it make if we recognize that Proverbs 31 was written for a young man, not a woman? Quite a bit actually. Honestly I had never thought about it until I saw a video of Rick White at Acts 29. While not an exhaustive study of the passage, Rick offers a legitimate perspective. …
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