Fostering—I’m writing on this topic being by no means an expert but being involved. When my wife and I married, we entered our union with a shared conviction: No matter what God gave us for biological children, we wanted our home to be a place to welcome children in need via fostering and adoption. We even moved from our rental to our first owned home recently, a purchase we made specifically to become a foster home. Though there are many avenues, we decided to work through our state and local offices. We attended the informative sessions, took the classes, did our home studies, and … [Read more...] about The World Needs More Foster Parents
The Good Ol’ Days
There's a sign at a business in a town near mine that asks the question: When will we get back to the good old days? This is a question of nostalgia that doesn't simply appreciate something old but sees an inferiority in the present and perhaps even a fear of the future. But the question always persists when we talk about the "good old days": Good from what perspective? It never fails that when news comes out of something bad involving a school or children, the memes show up on Facebook with a student at a desk and her head bowed and eyes closed. We didn't have this problem when prayer was … [Read more...] about The Good Ol’ Days
How about a PIE month?
Everybody likes pie, right? You might be like me and prefer cake, but if a good pie is sitting in front of you, you still have to eat a slice (and then another and then another and then another...). Pie is so good, in fact, that I think we should have a month dedicated to it. Obviously, being Baptist, we love to eat. But the pie I'm thinking of is actually not the kind you eat off a saucer. You see, despite being Baptist and thus evangelical (in the historical-theological sense of the word), we tend to have a problem with evangelism. To remind myself of this, I keep a little chart with some … [Read more...] about How about a PIE month?
A Reflection on Love
Originally written for my church blog as a devotion on Valentine's Day Many of us know the passage well. People quote it, read it at weddings, hang it on plaques on the wall—Paul’s famous words on love from 1 Corinthians 13. Love is patient, love is kind. Love does not envy, is not boastful, is not arrogant, is not rude, is not self-seeking, is not irritable, and does not keep a record of wrongs. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. – 1 Corinthians 13:6-8 (CSB) When we … [Read more...] about A Reflection on Love
Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs
Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, signing to God with gratitude in your hearts. – Colossians 3:16 (CSB) A recent blog post by Mark Terry addressed the sad reality that what were once termed the “worship wars” still rage in some churches today. An animosity exists between old and new—what are the proper songs and styles with which to worship God in the 21st Century church? I want us to consider some of the things the Bible tells us about our musical worship of God. In Old Testament … [Read more...] about Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs
A Funeral for an Infant
The very first funeral that I took part in as a pastor was for an infant. The child had died in the womb the day before her due date. I walked with the family through that in the best way that I could; though it is one of those experiences for which no book or seminary class can adequately prepare you. As a pastor, you end up dealing with death a lot. But when I saw the funeral director pick up and carry that tiny casket by himself, it brought tears unlike most funerals would. It was an experience that I hoped to never have again. Over the past two weeks, however, I had to walk through … [Read more...] about A Funeral for an Infant
What Do These Flags Mean?
It’s a decades long tradition in my church. Every year in December, our auditorium gets decked out with an array of flags from all over the world. It’s an awesome thing that I really enjoy, especially as it gives us a chance to explain to visitors and newcomers what they represent while we remind ourselves. Those of us steeped in Southern Baptist culture know that December means the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering. It is a season where many of us pastors or missions leaders urge our churches to give a special offering where every penny goes to support those we send to the mission field … [Read more...] about What Do These Flags Mean?
“Thank you!” to those who taught me the importance of expository preaching
This past Sunday, I preached the final sermon in a 12-week journey through Ecclesiastes. In 13+ years of pastoring, it marks the fifteenth book that I have preached all the way through, and the tenth in seven years at my current church.** Growing up in the same church for the first twenty years of my life, most of the sermons that I heard were topical in nature. They weren’t bad, many were quite good, and they weren’t unbiblical, but they never really brought a text of Scripture together. They simply connected verses about a single topic, like mid-column references in some Bibles. When I … [Read more...] about “Thank you!” to those who taught me the importance of expository preaching
My Top Three Reads for the First Half of 2017
We are halfway through 2017, and from my personal readings for these six months, I have made my way through 15 non-fiction works and 8 fiction. Seven of those non-fiction books are part of a year and a half journey to reread the works of Francis Schaeffer who greatly influenced my spiritual growth while in college. Also to be found are a couple of commentaries. Instead of reading through the Bible as a whole in 2017, I decided to focus on four books, giving them three-months of attention each. Part of that is to read through a significant commentary for each book. January through June, I … [Read more...] about My Top Three Reads for the First Half of 2017
How we pray for those we know who aren’t followers of Jesus
As a pastor, I often ponder how my church can be more effective at sharing the love and gospel of Jesus with our community. Ours is not a large town. We are a community of roughly 1700 people in a county of around 18,000. This presents certain challenges to evangelism: many people are commuters, we don’t really have a “town center” where large numbers of people regularly gather (well, maybe the football field in the fall), and many people said a prayer and were baptized as a kid in VBS or the likes, so they don’t think they need anything else despite the fact that little in their life … [Read more...] about How we pray for those we know who aren’t followers of Jesus