Fourteen years ago, I suffered heat stroke in sight of the finish line of a community race I’d been training to win. It was 80 degrees, with high humidity, and I’d trained for months in unusually cool-for-summer 70-degree mornings. I had my time goals for each mile —...
Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity
So often we try to find the plan for our lives based on those around us. We listen to what others say about us or the way the world defines us. We try to measure up to other people’s standards. We even look at people we think are successful in this world and then...
Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth
EACH WEEK, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Christians all over the world go to church. There are some constants. In almost every church, Christians are praying, reading the Bible, hearing sermons, singing songs, and sometimes receiving the Lord’s Supper. There are also...
A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry
O God Who Faithfully Ministers to All, you have called us not only to know you and love you, but also to become like you, pouring out our lives for the sake of others. You call all persons to this noble task, and some you particularly set apart as ministers in your...
Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope
God is not a hustler. And the hope he calls us to cannot be built on naive expectations that people will start seeing things the way we do. Our longing cannot be built on the arrogant assumption that we are completely right in the positions we take. It cannot even be...
Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love
I’ve come to believe in a better equation to describe what anxiety does: anxiety equals care minus God. We use the word care for both anxiety and love. We speak of not having a care in the world: that’s about anxiety. We tell someone we care for them: that’s love. The...
Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance
Here’s God’s honest truth—you aren’t the only one who’s looked giving up straight in the face. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? There’s one feeling that frequently overwhelms me when I’m in the thick of trial: a sense of being alone. I’m the only one who’s...
The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession
Ministry Challenges There is a place for visionary leaders and wise guides in both very large and very small communities. But the bifurcation of congregational sizes creates a world in which a small number of ministers have great autonomy, financial security, and even...
Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey
“If you take my son, we’re done!” Drew screamed as he sobbed into the steering wheel of his car in the hospital parking lot. Drew had just come from the neonatal intensive care unit, where his son, Linden, lay in his mother’s arms. Linden had been born prematurely and...
Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role
Why can I remember the hospital transport person who graciously pushed my wife’s wheelchair as we left the hospital when my daughter was born, but for the life of me, I cannot remember his name? While his name might escape me, his gentleness and candor do not. I do...
Ignoring God’s Limits: Embracing Rest
Fourteen years ago, I suffered heat stroke in sight of the finish line of a community race I’d been training to win. It was 80 degrees, with high humidity, and I’d trained for months in unusually cool-for-summer 70-degree mornings. I had my time goals for each mile —...
Listening to God’s Voice: Rediscovering Your Identity
So often we try to find the plan for our lives based on those around us. We listen to what others say about us or the way the world defines us. We try to measure up to other people’s standards. We even look at people we think are successful in this world and then...
Liturgy in Worship: Rediscovering Depth
EACH WEEK, HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of Christians all over the world go to church. There are some constants. In almost every church, Christians are praying, reading the Bible, hearing sermons, singing songs, and sometimes receiving the Lord’s Supper. There are also...
A Liturgy of Intercession for One in Ministry
O God Who Faithfully Ministers to All, you have called us not only to know you and love you, but also to become like you, pouring out our lives for the sake of others. You call all persons to this noble task, and some you particularly set apart as ministers in your...
Enduring Hope: A Pastor’s Guide – Christian Hope
God is not a hustler. And the hope he calls us to cannot be built on naive expectations that people will start seeing things the way we do. Our longing cannot be built on the arrogant assumption that we are completely right in the positions we take. It cannot even be...
Conquering Anxiety: Embracing God’s Love
I’ve come to believe in a better equation to describe what anxiety does: anxiety equals care minus God. We use the word care for both anxiety and love. We speak of not having a care in the world: that’s about anxiety. We tell someone we care for them: that’s love. The...
Persistent Faith: Overcoming Resistance
Here’s God’s honest truth—you aren’t the only one who’s looked giving up straight in the face. It doesn’t always feel that way, does it? There’s one feeling that frequently overwhelms me when I’m in the thick of trial: a sense of being alone. I’m the only one who’s...
The Unraveling of Ministry as a Profession
Ministry Challenges There is a place for visionary leaders and wise guides in both very large and very small communities. But the bifurcation of congregational sizes creates a world in which a small number of ministers have great autonomy, financial security, and even...
Faith in the Midst of Doubt: A Pastor’s Journey
“If you take my son, we’re done!” Drew screamed as he sobbed into the steering wheel of his car in the hospital parking lot. Drew had just come from the neonatal intensive care unit, where his son, Linden, lay in his mother’s arms. Linden had been born prematurely and...
Faith’s Tapestry: Memory’s Profound Role
Why can I remember the hospital transport person who graciously pushed my wife’s wheelchair as we left the hospital when my daughter was born, but for the life of me, I cannot remember his name? While his name might escape me, his gentleness and candor do not. I do...
Helping Your Small Group Thrive
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