How can we better engage more youth in the faith? What can a youth ministry do to engage more youth in the faith that helps their faith stick after high school? There are lots of potential answers but I think we can start with these two: hire older youth pastors and focus on discipleship. There’s a statistic, a dreaded statistic, a statistic that keeps youth pastors up at night (at least the good ones). Various numbers have been tossed around... Read more
I am a Girl Dad. I have three daughters and zero sons. This is not by my design; if it were completely up to me I would have had three left-handed sons who could throw 95 MPH. Instead, I have three daughters who take ballet lessons. I did not expect this in life and nothing prepared me for it. I certainly never expected to be teaching my daughters about true love. I have learned to relate to them in ways... Read more
Gentleness is not a defining quality of the culture in which we live. Unfortunately, it is not a defining quality of the American church, either. It seems to be the lost Fruit of the Spirit, the one we ignore and skip over as though it has no use whatsoever. We are trying to advance the Kingdom of God, right? What good is a gentle witness? What would a gentle public ministry even look like? Pragmatically speaking, gentleness does not serve... Read more
Christians have had a long and complicated relationship with power, often taking shortcuts to accruing power by similar means as the world. Jesus, and Gandalf, both show the wisdom in resisting shortcuts to power. As a thirty-something American evangelical pastor, I am bound by law to love The Lord of the Rings. The movies were released during a very formative time in my life, at the end of high school and beginning of college. There probably weren’t too many nights... Read more
Whatever happened to gentleness? Who knows? I was preparing my sermon for this week. I am preaching through Philippians this summer (great book, highly recommend). Anyway, I was studying Philippians 4 when I came across a verse that stood out to me in a way it never had before. Philippians 4:5: Let your gentleness show in your treatment of all people. The Lord is near. These are Paul’s final thoughts and instructions for the church in Philippi. You can tell... Read more
I have some good news for you: God likes you! Believers believe that God loves them. That is a major, crucial aspect of the Good News. God loves people. He loves you. He loves me. But, if you are at all like me, you sometimes find yourself asking yourself: does God like me? Does God enjoy being with me? I have been reading Syd and Geoff Holsclaw’s book Does God Really Like Me? It is an excellent book so far.... Read more
Joy is not an emotion that we typically associate with suffering. Sadness, anger, loneliness, depression, anxiety, yeah sure. Those fit well with suffering. But joy? How can we be joyful while we are suffering? Suffering comes in all shapes and sizes. It is not mine, or yours, to judge whether or not a person is suffering. It depends on their maturity, their experience, their locale whether a situation or circumstance crosses the threshold of suffering. For some, the loss of... Read more
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