Category: CHURCH & MINISTRY
Mother Teresa Leona: A Brockton Dialogue
James, the youth: If a person shows all the outward signs of being a Christian, should we assume the person is truly a Christian? The elderly but wiser Mr. Brockton: Not at all. The evidence for being a Christian will undoubtedly be seen in every true Christian, but the appearance...
Every Believer Not a Missionary
Several years ago, before Eastern European Communism was dismantled, I interviewed the leader for the Hungarian Baptists in his office in Budapest. He related the story of Johann Gerhard Oncken and his influence on workers in Hamburg after the great fire there in the 1800s. Oncken...
Robert Chapman: Famous for Love
Early in Robert Chapman’s ministry, his friends were not impressed with his preaching. They told him to give it up. Chapman replied: “There are many who preach Christ, but not so many who live Christ. My great aim will be to live Christ.”1 Chapman did become...
Methodical Love
They loved her. The rest of the world remembers Frances Ridley Havergal for writing such great hymns as “Take my Life and Let it Be,” “Like a River Glorious” and “Count Your Many Blessings,” but to her fourteen students, she was just Miss Havergal, the dear...
Hard Work: The Spurgeon Way
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the renowned preacher of London in the 1800s, was not only a gifted leader, but was a hard worker. By the time most pastors write a few emails, wrestle with the dates for VBS and read the junk mail, Spurgeon would have completed...
When Your Preacher is Not John Piper
Many who have had the privilege of hearing John Piper1 preach in person would testify that it felt like a monumental event. His preaching is a powerful combination of truth and passion, leading to convicted and exhilarated listeners. After the sermon, certain hearers might leave wondering...
The Whisperer, The KJVer, and Other Types of Group Prayer Participants You Don’t Want to Be
My first opportunity to pray in a group came when some of my fellow students and I were standing in a circle, holding hands. The leader told us we could either pray or squeeze the hand of the person next to us. I was a squeezer...
The Reluctant Mother: Amy Carmichael
We can’t always identify life-changing moments as they occur. When a little Indian girl named Preena crawled into Amy Carmichael’s lap and called her “Amma” (or “mother” in Tamil) for the first time, neither of them could have known that this simple act would change both...
Mixed-Up Churches: Aiming for Multi-Cultural Glory
Is it better to have Caucasian churches, Black churches, Korean churches, Farmer churches and Rock-driven churches, or to mix them up? Recently I read an unambiguous advertisement for a church in our city. It read, “We sing the old hymns.” That was it. Contrary to what...
Herbert Brown: The Anointed Stutterer
James Alexander Stewart was experiencing enormous success as an evangelist. By the age of 20, he was so sought after that he was preaching four or five times a day. He also filled his hours with evangelism in the streets and in homes. This was too...
