See You Monday – Have a Merry Christmas
I don't plan to blog over the next couple of days. I've got a video scheduled to post Christmas morning, but I certainly hope you've got better things to do over the next couple of days than to blog. I do. Have a cool Yule. … [Read more...] about See You Monday – Have a Merry Christmas
Predestined to Punch
I know it's the Christmas season, but recently having read once again the claim that all Baptists are Calvinists, I must now draw this line in the sand and, of my own free will, form a covenant with my Calvinist brothers that I will "slap upside the head" the next person who tells me I'm a Calvinist! Of course, God already possesses the foreknowledge that I will do this thing. He has given me free will, a functioning right arm and a right hand fully capable of an open-faced slap. I will not make a fist. I will not break any bones. I will probably not miss you unless you duck. Your skin … [Read more...] about Predestined to Punch
Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 3
Our guest blogger today is again Wade Phillips, who blogs at “A Good Infection“. He’s a TV news anchor in MS and a husband/father/deacon/SS Teacher combo! Thank you for sharing this series with us. This is the third part in a series on life and faith, that was triggered by a segment I recently did on Tim Tebow at WMOX radio. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. I am Tim Tebow. And you are Tim Tebow. We are all Tim Tebow. No, most of us will never set foot on an NFL football field for any reason; much less lead a game winning drive, (or a bunch of them, for that matter.) But there … [Read more...] about Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 3
Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 2
Our guest blogger today is again Wade Phillips, who blogs at “A Good Infection“. He’s a TV news anchor in MS and a husband/father/deacon/SS Teacher combo! This is the second part of a series on life and faith, that was triggered by a recent segment I did on WMOX Radio about Tim Tebow. See part 1 here. One of the questions that inevitably comes up in any discussion of public faith is this: why do people get offended when someone puts their faith on display? Why should it bother others that someone is unashamed about their faith? Why should others want him to shut up? Why do they … [Read more...] about Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 2
Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 1
Our guest blogger today is Wade Phillips, who blogs at "A Good Infection". He's a TV news anchor in MS and a husband/father/deacon/SS Teacher combo! This is the first in a series of posts on life and faith, that was triggered by a recent segment I did on WMOX radio about Tim Tebow . . . Let me lay my cards on the table from the beginning. I really like Tim Tebow. I like him for a number of reasons. Some of them are related to his faith, some of them are related to his football skills, and some of them are related to the how entertaining he has made this year’s NFL season, on and off the … [Read more...] about Jesus and Tim Tebow, Part 1
Why I Believe in Expository Preaching
I'm a preacher's kid, so I grew up hearing 2 sermons a week, 52 weeks a year. We didn't miss back then. My dad was a bit of a fanatic about something that, I now know, was not so common back among preachers back then - verse-by-verse, expository preaching. Since I sat under his preaching every week, I assumed everyone got out a Bible, tackled a passage and went through it verse after verse, picking up this week where we left off last week. Dad didn't "do a series" - he preached a book. Romans. Ephesians. 2 Peter. I didn't know there was any other kind of preaching, except for dad's … [Read more...] about Why I Believe in Expository Preaching
What in God’s Name Are We Doing to Our Children?
I am a grandfather now and I am deeply concerned about how the church is ministering to and dealing with its children. Of course, I want my grandchildren to be raised in the church, but is being raised in the church today that much different than the world? The world my grandchildren will grow up in is a Pleasure Island designed to seduce young Pinocchios into a life of servitude to sin. But what is going on in the church? I'm afraid that too often in our children and youth ministries we are trying to out Pleasure Island the Disney vision. I am concerned that many of the trends designed … [Read more...] about What in God’s Name Are We Doing to Our Children?
Review of Welcome to the Story
In his book Disciple: Getting Your Identity From Jesus Bill Clem shares an analogy where he compares three drama students starring in a play they perform in their garage with a drama student auditioning for a small part in a Broadway play in New York. The difference between the two scenarios is the one student even with a walk-on part being part of something huge. The other students are delusional “believing their vision of the way things could be is the way things actually are”. He compares this analogy to the difference between inviting God into our little stories or being offered … [Read more...] about Review of Welcome to the Story