Ben Simpson

I am a firm believer in the germ theory, which hypothesizes that some diseases are caused by microorganisms that, although are way too small to be seen with the naked eye, invade the body and cause big problems.  Of course, while this theory was once highly controversial, it’s accepted as absolute fact now because of indisputable scientific proof backing it.  We’ve all become well versed in germ names like Ebola, Influenza, and Streptococcal.  These germs and others get into a body, multiply to the point they cause a disease, and then hope to get passed on to somebody new.  That’s why it’s so … [Read more...] about What Contagion Are You Spreading?

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn was a Russian author and critic of Soviet totalitarianism.  He had great reason to be a detractor given his years of imprisonment in Soviet gulags and forced work camps after being charged with writing anti-Soviet propaganda during Stalin's reign.  Later in life, Solzhenitsyn captured what it was like to live in those times in a book called The Gulag Archipelago.  Those were very dangerous days when anybody at any time could be arrested and sentenced or murdered for basically nothing.  Here's one haunting story from his book : A district Party conference was under way … [Read more...] about Don’t Ever Stop Clapping for the LGBTQ Community

All across America, freshmen are heading to college campuses and class for the first time.  They be getting their matriculation on!  They are bright-eyed, nervous, and excited about all they're going to experience and learn during the years ahead.  That's how I was back in 1998.  I was so eager for someone to fill my head with knowledge, but looking back, I really wish I knew then what I know now.  Here's what my 34-year-old self would tell my 18-year-old self. "Ben, college debt is dumb."  At that point in my life, I had almost no financial experience.  I had had a job for three summers … [Read more...] about What I Wish I Knew When I Went to College

We Americans are infatuated with sex.  Perhaps not as much as our European cousins, but it nevertheless captures so much of the American fancy.  Just look at the magazine covers of any checkout aisle.  "32 Sex Moves that Will Blow His Mind."  Watch a few commercials.  Do most folks even realize that GoDaddy.com is a web host?  From their commercials, one could easily come to the conclusion that they are a porn site.  Search the internet.  On second thought, please don't search the internet because things we can't even imagine will be pulled up.  We live in a sex-saturated society. Undoubtedly … [Read more...] about Sex in the Ditch

Are you gearing up for growth?  Brothers and sisters, we are heading into the fall of the year, which is a prime time for church growth.  I’m so excited to see what God is going to do! Perhaps you’ve not thought about it in this way, but there are at least five different types of church growth.  One type is “biological growth,” which I like to call “baby growth.”  It’s when the physical church family grows through the birth of children or adoption.  Now don't think that I'm going all Presbyterian on you here.  While these children are not part of the Kingdom of God or the New Covenant until … [Read more...] about Gearing Up for Growth

As laborers for Jesus, we are all working to reap a harvest through the gospel.  We plant, we water, and we harvest.  However, we don’t always get to do all three things with the same person.  Sometimes we’re the one who plants the gospel in a person’s life.  At other times we’re the one who waters that gospel so that it might take root, grow, bloom, and bear fruit.  Still other times we are the one who gets to harvest that soul by leading them to faith in Jesus Christ.  Of course, it’s God who brings the growth and the harvest, but He uses human agents to bring it about (Matthew 9:37-38).  … [Read more...] about It’s a Team Harvest