Category: CHRISTIAN LIFE

Your Favorite Famous Preacher

Renowned preachers of the gospel are immediately accessible on the Internet. Thousands of their sermons can be downloaded for free. Some of these men preach at multiple conferences throughout the year. I have spent time ministering on at least four different college campuses, and one of...

Why a “Paper” Bible is Better than a Bible App at Church Meetings

Technology is useful in the church. For example, I Skyped in recently to my congregation’s Sunday gathering when I was too sick to attend. I was strengthened by what I heard, and they happily avoided my virus. But technology is not valuable in every circumstance. I’m...

What To Expect From Pastoral Counseling

The goal of all worthwhile Christian counseling is to help believers meet the challenges of life in a way that will please and honor the Lord. It is aimed at training believers how to walk without stumbling into, or how to recover from, patterns of sinful...

The Value of Arriving Early to Church Meetings

“If we had left just five minutes earlier, we wouldn’t be in this predicament,” you mutter to yourself, confident that you are going to arrive after the church meeting has started. You feel your heart racing. You dread the attention you are about to bring upon...

The Suffering Church: Meitei Believers

As I spoke by interpreter to the Meitei pastors and church planters in Bangladesh, I knew that I was training a special group of conscientious leaders. We met in a small mud chapel beside a devoted pastor’s home who had just died unexpectedly. They listened intently...

Watching Out for the Faith of Others

Paul had waited long enough. He just had to hear from the new believers he had left in the Macedonian capital city of Thessalonica—believers who were facing affliction for their commitment to Christ. Paul longed to see these new Christians face to face, but it wasn’t...

Waiting for a Ministry

It was John Wesley who said, “Don’t seek for a ministry, but seek for the fruit of a disciplined life.” In other words, pining away for a ministry is a waste of precious time. Rather, go deeper and God will use you in ways you haven’t...

The Church of the Shrunken Heads

I could walk to the museum when I was a boy in Kansas City. Of all the wonders I saw there, the shrunken head was the most alluring. I could envision how it was made to shrink. It was inset in the wall, blackened, menacing, exotic,...

The Care and Feeding of Flies

I just received this news about a Warren, Arkansas event, which took place 84 years ago. I’m sure that I’m the very latest one to receive this intelligence. Here it is: Mar. 3, 1914: Warren, Mar 2 – Yesterday closed the fly contest that has been...

The Particular Importance of Not Being Particularly Important – Or: Just be a Nobody

If you’re interested in being somebody in your life, think again. Chances are, Jesus is not on board. Take a step back to the 1st century and imagine a ruler of the Pharisees invites you to a Shabbat dinner. This is a meal that Jews observe...