Mike Leake

She’s the most notorious sinner in town. When you think of the type of woman that you want your little boy to avoid when he grows up, she is the first person that comes to mind. She exemplifies the Proverbs 7 woman as she mocks your Proverbs 31 ambitions. This is why you are shocked to get a phone call from her. First, you wonder who put your number in bathroom stall as a joke. Then you realize that this woman has hit rock bottom and she is crying out for help. You learn that she got your number from a mutual friend (which kind of makes you wonder how you share a friend). You set up a lunch … [Read more...] about When the Local Prostitute Thinks She’s a Christian

Little Jimmy comes home with a smile on his face. (It’s always little Jimmy, isn’t it?) He has spent the weekend at dad’s, as he has since the divorce, and he is pretty jazzed up about the church service that he went to. As a faithful mommy you are excited that he is excited about church. Trying to contain your grin you ask him what was so cool about church. Little Jimmy explains, Mom it was so cool! We were singing songs, then the preacher said something about snakes and faith…I can’t really remember what…but then Pastor Jenkins hopped out of that place where people get babatized (cause … [Read more...] about How to Shepherd Your Child When He/She is Exposed to Bad Teaching

Last week Dave Miller posted an article asking Whatever Happened to Bible Study? In the comments of that post Dave shares a story: I was the pastor of a church in Virginia and instead of using the quarterlies (which at that point I had a very low opinion of), I was just using the Bible to teach Sunday School. The deacons chastised me and demanded that I use the quarterly to teach Sunday School. Adam G. followed with a story of his own: Had a very similar experience in north-central North Carolina. Our Sunday School class ALWAYS studied the Bible verse by verse and NEVER used the … [Read more...] about The Cycle of Biblical Ignorance

In August over 2,000 men prayed for their wives. We saw the Lord do (and continue to do) many things in our lives. It is not only our wives that we are called to pray for. Men and women alike are called to pray for their sons. Therefore, on October 1st we will be launching the Pray For Your Son: 31 Day Challenge. Just as with the P4W challenge this will help our prayers to have a FACE: Focus—I need to know what specifically to pray for my son or I’ll just keep praying the same things over and over again. Accountability—I need a group of people to keep me accountable and remind me … [Read more...] about Pray For Your Son: 31 Day Challenge

I’m not the Benny Hinn type, but I do pray for healing quite often. And I do it rather simply: “Lord, heal _______ according to your will.” It might sound as if I’m praying that because I simply do not know the Lord’s will in a situation. From my finite perspective I have no idea if the Lord has purposed to heal a person. While that is true, that is not all that I am communicating whenever I pray that the Lord heal someone according to His will. It’s actually a prayer that is jam-packed with theology and hope. All believers will ultimately be healed I know that whenever I pray for … [Read more...] about How I Pray For Healing

For this is the will of God, sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; –1 Thessalonians 4:3 This verse is usually met with a follow up question, “What exactly is sexual immorality?” That, of course, is the sanctified way of asking, “Is it still okay if my girlfriend and I _________? Because of this question I’ve found it helpful to use the Scriptures to define sexual immorality. Here is how I typically define sexual immorality: Anything that is intentionally sexually arousing outside the context of marriage. Anything… I’ve never found giving someone a list of prescribed … [Read more...] about What is Sexual Immorality?

He looked as if he had accidentally been thrown into the dryer with a load of socks. His clothes were disheveled, his hair was unkempt and his eyes told the story of a man dizzied by life. Then he said it… “I’m not sure that I’m supposed to be married to my wife”. As I questioned his statement he gave a well-reasoned defense. He explained that he married his wife against the counsel of his parents, his pastor, and his Christian friends. They all reminded him that God’s Word says we are not to be unequally yoked to unbelievers. He ignored their counsel, went to Las Vegas, and eloped with the … [Read more...] about How Do You Know If You Were Supposed To Marry Your Spouse?

Friends, read this article quickly as it will likely disappear soon. There is only one reason this got published; namely, Dave Miller doesn't know much about computers. Due to a massive oversight I still have some admin powers on Voices. I have the power--at least for the time being--to post an article without Mr. Dave's permission. Here it is...likely my last post on Voices. You might have noticed that Borrowed Light (my blog) no longer appears on the SBC Voices watchlist. You've probably assumed that I've been busy or just stopped writing altogether. That's not true. I've just been … [Read more...] about The Truth About SBC Voices

“Shepherd the flock of God that is among you…” When Al Gore invented the internet* a new opportunity for “pastoring” was also invented. With a few strokes on my keyboard and a click of the mouse I can sit under teaching from all around the world. I can be “pastored” by a guy that I’ve never met and live in a “community” filled with people I’ve never actually seen. I believe God inspired Peter to add those little words, “that is among you”, for a reason. You cannot rightly “exercise oversight” if you’ve never actually sat across from a person. That is why Peter exhorts the elders to … [Read more...] about Putting Online Shepherding In Its Place

That title is misleading. It needs to be more Edwardsean to be accurate. It should be titled How a Wrong-Headed Application of Jonathan Edwards Has Nearly Made Shipwreck of My Soul. Let me explain. About seven years ago I read this Resolution of Jonathan Edwards: 5. Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can. Since that moment I have made it my ambition to not lose one moment of time for the glory of God. I have failed at this on numerous occasions. But one thing you could say about me is that I have been driven. I have been driven to … [Read more...] about How Jonathan Edwards Wrecked My Soul