E.M. Bounds was not overly enamored with church growth methods or management techniques. He believed real power comes from a different source: the Holy Spirit anointing a man. Those who want to reject the celebrity preacher culture do need to beware that they don’t also reject the way God works by raising up men to do his work: We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the... Read more
One of the joys of attending Desiring God was meeting a number of brothers and sisters. Christians are part of the family of God. One pastor who runs a podcast took the opportunity to record a quick interview with me about Hope Reborn. You can listen right here: download Buy in the USA from Christianbook.com Buy in the UK from 10ofthose.com Read more
Thanks to the kindness of the organizers, I was able to attend last night’s performance of the musical Love Beyond in which the Bible gets the West End treatment. I went with six children (no, I haven’t had another kid, one of them just brought a friend!). Their ages went from 17 down to 7, and they all loved it. Even though it went on until late, they were humming some of the tunes on the way home. It was... Read more
As a medical doctor specializing in psychiatry, I learned a lot about hope. Hopelessness is intimately linked with depression, which causes incalculable misery. Hope can be destroyed by unemployment, a terminal illness, or the death of a loved one. Mental and even physical illness can be the result of shattered dreams. When someone feels their hope is entirely lost, they may sometimes even become suicidal. Hope can also be easily manipulated. Clinical trials have demonstrated that some people who believe... Read more
This month’s Patheos Book Club includes the book, “Preventing Suicide: A Handbook for Pastors, Chaplains and Pastoral Counselors.” By Karen Mason. It is a timely book, and an important book. It has been encouraging to me to see a significant shift in the approach of the Christian community to issues of mental health in recent years. So, for example, in a recent survey of 1000 Protestant pastors conducted by Lifeway showed 0% of their sample believed medication should never be used... Read more
The three sessions in Romans with John Piper yesterday were food for the soul. They were enjoyable, engaging, and illuminating. In fact they were life-changing. Nothing I am going to say in this article should in an way take away from that. And I would urge everyone reading this article to take the time to watch the entire series of five talks from this conference online. Three of them are available already: Scripture: The Kindling of Christian Hedonism Free from... Read more
When you are listening to a sermon, sometimes you should write copious notes. Other times you should just capture a few key thoughts. Other times you should just listen as the Spirit of God drives the Word home to you. Last night here at DGNatCon was one such night for me. In fact I believe it was Lloyd-Jones who once said that he was disappointed if people weren’t writing notes at the beginning of his sermon, but that he believed... Read more
I know I may make a few enemies by this post, but I am going to say it anyway: There are many pastors who should not be leading God’s people because they are not conscious of being led by God themselves 1 Samuel 28 reveals a desperate King who no longer receives God’s guidance. Whatever makes us think we will fare any better than Saul if we are not led by God? The message of the Bible is that if... Read more
I thought it was high time I returned to the long running series of posts about leadership lessons from I and II Samuel. Sometimes as you read Scripture you come to a chapter that at first glance it is hard to get comfort, a teaching, or instruction from. 1 Samuel 27 is one such chapter. In it we see one of the Bible’s leading heroes running away, allying himself with God’s enemies, ingratiating himself by raiding other villages and leaving nobody... Read more
All too often we Christians focus on the things that divide us. The Gospel of Jesus is what should unite us. In Hope Reborn we deliberately wrote in such a way that we hoped those from different backgrounds would recognize the book’s message as the Gospel. Actually if you are immersed in your own setting, it is a great idea sometime to examine the Gospel message of another group. What we should realize is that essentially all true Christians are preaching... Read more
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