Mike Leake

It finally arrived. A few days ago the UPS guy lugged in two hefty boxes.  Inside the boxes contained a treasure that I have been awaiting for months now.  I honestly, have never been so excited about a Sunday school curriculum.  I opened the box and with trembling hands pulled out the leaders guides to The Gospel Project. In my feeble hands I was holding the most potent and subtle dose of Arminian/Traditionalist/non-Calvinistic kryptonite this world has ever seen.  From various sources I have been informed that this Gospel Project thing was a subtle way to indoctrinate our churches in … [Read more...] about Why I’m Sending Back The Gospel Project

One of my ministry goals is to be able to say with Paul at the end of ministry, “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all of you, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.”  (Acts 20:26-27) If the Ephesian church became jacked up a few years after Paul’s ministry he was innocent of their blood.  He was faithful in His ministry.  He declared to them the whole counsel of God.  He left nothing out.  He preached on the joyous things and the difficult things.  He preached in tears and he preached with smiles.  He unfolded for them the entire … [Read more...] about How to Preach the Whole Counsel of God

It was an easy task.  At least it should have been. Yet, if you ask my wife why our garbage disposal leaks she can quickly point the finger to the time that I took the whole thing apart, breaking the seals, and everything to “fix it”.  No need for a professional or an expert.  I’m a husband AND I’ve stayed at a Holiday Inn.   Even though I have no idea how a garbage disposal works I’m pretty certain that its not a big deal and I’ll figure it out as I go along.  After all how hard can it really be to get my garbage disposal to stop sounding like a pterodactyl giving birth? Had it been … [Read more...] about Grace for the Little Things

The LORD will be awesome against them; for he will famish all the gods of the earth, and to him shall bow down, each in its place, all the lands of the nations.  (Zephaniah 2:11) In the Lord’s war to dethrone idols and capture the heart of his bride there are few idols that are more alluring in our culture than sinful sex and pornography.  In fact pornography/adultery/lust is so ensnaring and so deadly that whole chapters of Proverbs are dedicated to it.  The typical advice isn’t “gird up yourself and fight this thing” it is usually “run away” (run towards Jesus). To help us wage war in … [Read more...] about Quick Review of Two Books to Help Fight Pornography

As an aging man, and one who had been a Christian for over 30 years, John Newton had this to say about his experience: At my first setting out, indeed, I thought to be better, and to feel myself better from year to year; I expected by degrees to attain everything which I then comprised in my idea of a godly Christian. I thought my grain of grace, by much diligence and careful improvement, would, in time, amount to a pound; that pound, in a farther space of time, to a talent; and then I hoped to increase from one talent to many; so that, supposing the Lord should spare me a number of years, I … [Read more...] about Is This Helpful or Needlessly Pessimistic?

I wrote awhile back of what it is like when the lights go out in my fragile mind.  I had a pretty intense period of darkness that finally seems to have lifted yesterday (Praise God!).  One of the things that really helped me in the midst of darkness was John Piper’s When the Darkness Will Not Lift.  I wanted to mention two points of counsel that really helped my soul.  They may be surprising. Start with Despair It is really difficult being a pastor that struggles with depression.  I feel a ton of added pressure to kick this depression thing.  You never want your darkness to negatively … [Read more...] about How John Piper Helped Me in the Midst of Darkness

It was my second concussion that was the most embarrassing.  It was a rainy Friday afternoon, when I finally had the opportunity to play football with the big boys.  (Of course, I’m not really sure that it was rainy—I was concussed, remember—but it sounds good anyways). Here I was 4’8, 12 years old, and finally playing football with my dad and his friends on lunch break.  Being the short kid all through elementary school (and even now in adult life) I know that I’m going to be underestimated until I prove myself.  In football I would never get a pass thrown my way until I could show my … [Read more...] about Proverbs for Christian Blogging: The Necessity of Fixed Eyes and Guarded Hearts

“That’s what speed do”. Jarrod Dyson is one of the fastest players in MLB.  He was a 50th Round Pick.  That’s around the time when baseball teams start picking the guy with a wooden leg who lost his real one in a freak combine accident.  Guys that get picked this late do not make an influence in the game of baseball.  Or at least they aren’t supposed to.  But Jarrod Dyson is really fast. As a Royals fan I absolutely love watching Dyson play.  It’s exciting to see him slap a ball to the shortstop and then watch the usually sure handed shortstop get a little jittery because he knows if he … [Read more...] about Jarrod Dyson, Rollie Fingers, And How We View the World

“For at the window of my house I have looked out through my lattice…”  Proverbs 7:6 I do not believe that it is an accident that Solomon’s advice comes from the window instead of on the streets.  Previously I noted from Proverbs 7 the path of seduction.  I also noted that if you find yourself on this path, according to the Proverbs, there is great likelihood that you will end up gutted like a deer in a tree.  That is because the battle against seduction is often won from the window instead of on the streets. Though we can find help by looking at 7:11-23 it is not in those verses that the … [Read more...] about Battling Seduction From Your Window Instead of On the Streets

And behold, the woman meets him, dressed as a prostitute, wily of heart. She is loud and wayward; her feet do not stay at home; now in the street, now in the market, and at every corner she lies in wait. She seizes him and kisses him, and with bold face she says to him, “I had to offer sacrifices, and today I have paid my vows; so now I have come out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you. I have spread my couch with coverings, colored linens from Egyptian linen; I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon. Come, let us take our fill of love till … [Read more...] about The Path of Seduction, Or How You Ended Up Gutted Like a Deer in a Tree