Category: Life Issues
How to Encourage Your Pastor This Summer
Attendance, and unfortunately enthusiasm, is significantly lacking in most local churches during the summer months. Vacations, reunions, camps, and other activities take people out of town, leaving even the main worship service of the week with gaps in the pews wider than a dump truck. A...
How Do You Respond When Admonished?
As we pulled into one of the gates at the Atlanta airport, I knew I would miss my connecting flight. Nevertheless, I sprinted through one of the world’s largest airports to a gate that was a few terminals away, hoping that I could still make it....
Hospitality for Gospel Advance
I occasionally travel around the country in order to teach the Bible in various settings, typically staying in the home of a pastor or church members. Looking back over several years of these experiences, I can confidently say that joyous hospitality is a boon to my...
Helping Friends Who Receive The Call We All Dread
It’s happened to all of us. We get a call or an email letting us know that someone we love has a family member in the hospital in serious condition, and we want to help. Our hearts immediately turn to prayer, but along with that, we...
Guaranteed Ways to Make Your Pastor Rejoice
Are you the kind of church member who makes your pastor’s ministry a joy? (Hebrews 13:17) Do you esteem in love the pastors that God has put over you? (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13) Do you honor those elders who “work hard at preaching and teaching?” (1 Timothy...
Four Miles from Church
How important is faithful church attendance for the Christian? One man who understood its importance was the father of 19th century missionary John Paton. Living four miles from their church in Dumfries, Scotland, Paton writes, . . . during all these forty years my father was...
Conquering the Shy Chromosome
Like it or not, much of church life and our impact on society depends on conversation. Do you do much of that? It is the responsibility of everybody in the church—including the shy people. There may be a shy chromosome in the genes somewhere, but if...
Creating a Culture of Hospitality
Church doesn’t just happen on Sunday morning and Wednesday nights. We all know that. In our busy and self-isolating culture, we have to make intentional, personal contact with each other if we want to be a real community. But how do we do it? Let me...
A Plea to Christian Young People to Be Fools
The people of God are called to be fools for the sake of Christ. Many Christian young people are not. When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he was fighting this very battle. He brought into sharp contrast the wisdom of the world and...
You Talk About What You Love
Leading a retreat for men several years ago, I remember being aware of the spiritual immaturity of some men who had been part of their church for years. The first night I discovered that these men were capable of knowing a lot, including much detailed information....
