I had the privilege of preaching at my church last weekend. I preached on the story of Nicodemus from John’s Gospel. Nicodemus’ story challenges me to live a life of genuine discipleship.

On the Christian calendar today is a holy day to remember the slaughter of the children of Bethlehem by the hand of Herod the Great in response to the visit of the Magi (Matt 2). It feels so much more  poignant to me today in light of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary just a [...]

This week is the second week of Advent. We’ve been thinking all this first week as a family about the theme of Promise in our Advent devotion. We’ve been praying with our kids each night “Dear God, help me to keep all my promises just as you kept yours”. This week we focus on the [...]

Why are there so many different themes attached to the four Advent Candles (purple and pink). A survey of websites and books on Advent surface a number of options. Does anyone know why there are so many different traditions? Is there a source that has researched this phenomenon? Here’s just are some examples: Promise, Light, [...]

A couple of weeks ago, Thanksgiving Eve to be exact, Karla and I marked an anniversary of sorts; we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our engagement. Let me just say, I did it right. I asked her to marry me at the top of the Hancock Building in downtown Chicago. It was Nov 23rd, 1992. [...]

During this political season in the US, I’ve taken the opportunity to do some reading on American evangelicals and politics. I have four recent books that I would like to recommend to you that I thought were particularly interesting, in many cases thought provoking and at times practically useful. As a whole these resources reveal [...]

I posted on the Lord’s Prayer being the Gospel a while ago. I gave a talk to our college students on the topic. I hope it challenges you to be the answer to the Lord’s Prayer.

What is the “local church”? Of course by the term I don’t mean a building, a denomination or the clergy. The church is often equated with something like these, but this is a mistake. The church is, quite simply, the company of Jesus’ followers, a band of believers in Jesus. Also, I’m not here referring [...]