Category: Outreach
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....
You’re Going the Wrong Way!
A few years ago, I was preaching in prisons in Oklahoma. In one of those prisons, I had to go into the meeting location several minutes after the pastor who had invited me. When it was time to go in, the guard opened the iron door...
O Come, Let Us Ignore Him: Singing Carols About the Jesus You Won’t Love
There we are, sitting in the large public music hall listening to Handel’s “Messiah.” We’re feeling a bit claustrophobic before we start, our coats draped over our shoulders or chairs, and our bulky sweaters surrounding us like woolen nests. We’re heating up nicely as they sing,...
The Elderly Mr. Phipp: A Brockton Dialogue
James, the youth: Is affection necessary for true spirituality? I mean, can’t a man be Christian, yet cold as a stone emotionally? Mr. Brockton: Affection cannot be separated from true religion. James: But are we to strain to be affectionate toward God when it is not...
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...
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...
When the Bible Isn’t Boring Anymore
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” -John 10:27 Jesus Christ knows His sheep, and His sheep know Him (John 10:14). They don’t “know” one another in the sense that they were merely introduced sometime in the past, but they...
When Nobody Misses You
Below is the obituary of 79 year-old Dolores Aguilar, recorded in the Vallejo, California Times-Herald (August 16-17, 2008), submitted by one of her daughters. Dolores Aguilar 1929 – Aug. 7, 2008-08-22 Dolores Aguilar, born in 1929 in New Mexico, left us on August 7, 2008. She...
What Does It Mean to Believe?
Sitting on the deck on a balmy evening, my daughter asked again for more clarity on the most important question she could pose: “Dad, what does it really mean to believe in Christ?” I commended her for that question, because it is not asked by most...
