Christian Living Resources, Bible Study Tools, Jesus Christ

Looking for great preachers, it would appear, was never on God's shopping list.

Our imperative to fulfill Christian leadership in the digital world is not technological. We should not use this technology simply because it is there. Our driving motivation must be a Gospel imperative.

Sometimes it is the redefinition of a word or phrase that is at the heart of our most important cultural transformations – and challenges.

I do not know what tends to occupy your life. If you are like most people, including myself, it trends toward the trivial and mundane.

Christians have throughout the centuries—and most especially following the Protestant Reformation—arrived at very different understandings about a multitude of issues related to the teaching and practice of the Christian faith. Unfortunately, we tend to form enclaves around these doctrinal understandings, which are eventually institutionalized.

Nothing restores your “mojo” (momentum, enthusiasm, your heart for this work) like pulling aside periodically to renew your commitment to the Lord and to receive a reaffirmation from Him that you are where He put you, doing His work.

"Bivocational" simply means that the minister must work a second job in addition to serving a church. It does not mean that the minister is "part-time."

Mike Blackaby says we must be “colliders,” people who do not hide from pop culture, but rather engage the world through it as a believer in Christ.

While I was in Zambia, I missed a very important funeral and a sudden open heart surgery of one of our elderly members. Because of this, my time in Zambia reminded me of the importance of my “motto” for pastoral ministry:

Ted and his wife were regular fixtures in my office at the time. He was a serious slave of sin. He’d turned to Christ a couple years before and seemed to truly despise his sin, but kept sliding back into it.

If I don’t do crazy things for God, am I wasting my life? Am I not being crazy radical enough? I don’t think so. Here’s why: being a Christian is fundamentally radical, risky, and crazy.

Only one job in the world requires expertise in, well, everything. We expect our pastor to be an expert on any pressing issue in our lives.

Prior to Constantine, the church, although organized, was less institutional and more communal or organic. In other words, the outside world didn’t think of “the church” as that building on the corner. Instead they thought of a community of people who were distinct in both their conduct and character, the overarching characteristics being their love for others, compassion toward the needy, and joy-filled lives.

Unless the faith of preachers is in Christ alone–-and not in any other person, ecclesiastical institution, theological system, moral prescription, or master recipe for human loveliness–they will be of very little use in the pulpit.

What would you do if you knew your neighbors were being murdered for their faith?

As obvious as this sounds, it is amazing the amount of men in local churches desiring to be pastors and considering a call to preach, but are never given the opportunity to actually preach.

I was meeting with a potential church planter recently and some of the words of wisdom spoken to me over the years flooded my mind. Some of these were given to me by others. Some were learned firsthand by experience.

There has been a seismic shift in outreach that few church leaders are understanding, much less pursuing.

We Christians do have a counter-cultural message to share with the world. But how we share that message matters. A lot.