New Standard for the Shelf: ESV Expository Commentary Vol. 8

Last updated on: May 1, 2026 at 11:41 am By Jeff McLain

In my daily rhythm of study, preaching, and teaching, a commentary is an essential companion. I reach for a commentary more than any other resource. Whether I am preparing a message for the chapel at Water Street Mission, leading a class at River Corner Church, or working through my doctoral studies at Kairos University, I find myself consulting these resources almost as often as the Scriptures themselves. Recently, I had the opportunity to spend significant time with the ESV Expository... Read more

Family Sabbath: Rediscovering God in Stillness and Presence

Last updated on: April 29, 2026 at 11:16 pm By Jeff McLain

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One detail in the Genesis creation account has always intrigued me: the seventh day never seems to close. Throughout Genesis 1, every day ends with the familiar refrain: “there was evening, and there was morning.” But the seventh day ends differently. Unlike the previous days, it is not closed with that same formula. Many theologians have seen this as a picture of God’s ongoing rest and presence within creation. Creation climaxes not with more production, but with rest and presence.... Read more

Food Shortage: Living Faithfully in Uncertain Times

Last updated on: April 17, 2026 at 3:12 pm By Jeff McLain

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Today, I’m sharing a guest post from Tri Robinson, who reflects on themes that intersect with much of what we explore here—simplicity, attentiveness, and how we live as followers of Jesus in a consumeristic, chaotic, and noisy world. He recently blogged about the threat of food shortage. The kingdom of God, which Jesus came to preach and teach, is often pictured as a banquet that welcomes “the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind” (Luke 14:13–14). Meals were a regular... Read more

Church Is Not a Waiting Room: It’s Where Gifts Are Formed

Last updated on: April 15, 2026 at 11:15 am By Jeff McLain

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The church is not just where we believe—it’s where we become. Many people are deconstructing not because they’ve rejected faith, but because they’ve never been given a place to embody it. I believe that some deconstruction isn’t about losing faith—it’s about never being invited to live it. I love when someone names something in another person that they couldn’t yet see in themselves—a grace, a gifting, a capacity that’s been there all along but hasn’t been called out. When that... Read more

Listen for Rattling: Finding Life in the Valley of Dry Bones

Last updated on: April 10, 2026 at 1:31 pm By Jeff McLain

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There is a consistent pattern throughout Scripture: God calls the people of God to settle into the promises and places God has called them, with a life shaped by God’s presence. In the garden, humanity is formed to live with God as enough (Genesis 2). In exile, when everything familiar is gone, God tells the people of God to build houses, plant gardens, and live faithfully in a foreign land (Jeremiah 29:4–7). When the people of God are finally brought... Read more

Monitoring the Soul: A Review of Multiplier by Dave Ferguson

Last updated on: April 4, 2026 at 12:55 am By Jeff McLain

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At the start of Multiplier, released in 2026 by Zondervan Reflective and Exponential Resources, author Dave Ferguson writes, “You reproduce who you are and what you do.” Through Multiplier, Ferguson helps us see that “we reproduce not just what we teach, not just what we hope, but who we actually are and what we actually do.” The reality is that we all reproduce ourselves and influence others through what we say, do, and embody, whether intentionally or not. If we... Read more

Mourning into Dancing: Reflections on Sunrise Gatherings

Last updated on: March 30, 2026 at 9:22 pm By Jeff McLain

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The Moravians practice something called watch words—a single verse given for the year to guide prayer and attention. In 2025, a Moravian Pastor, who is also a friend, assigned one to me: Psalm 30:11. I wrote it in multiple translations at the front of my journal, next to my life verse, 1 Thessalonians 4:11. It has stayed with me: “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy.”... Read more

Falling in Love Again: 11 Christian Marriage Practices

Last updated on: March 21, 2026 at 9:48 pm By Jeff McLain

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I once heard someone say that a successful marriage is one in which we fall in love with the same person over and over again. I do not know who said it, but it has stayed with me. For the past few days, Katie McLain and I have been on the Delmarva coast celebrating twenty years of marriage, and that line feels true. Our story has been one of learning to say yes to each other again and again. We... Read more

Rend Your Heart: Reclaiming the Lost Art of Repentance.

Last updated on: March 17, 2026 at 10:54 am By Jeff McLain

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I’ve noticed lately that we don’t hear much talk about repentance anymore—at least, not the way I did growing up. I came of age in an era where we analyzed the “repentances” of pastors, politicians, and public figures with a fine-toothed comb. In hindsight, it was often done in unhealthy ways. We were so obsessed with measuring the sincerity of a powerful person’s “I’m sorry” that the actual victims of their trespasses were often sidelined. In that rigid environment, the... Read more

Secondhand Smoke: Tri Robinson Discusses Deconstruction

Last updated on: March 11, 2026 at 8:09 am By Jeff McLain

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As Tri Robinson writes in Deconstruction/Reconstruction, the generations today are struggling with a reality in which “they believe the church has let them down, and, in some cases, they equate the church with Jesus. It’s hard for them to separate the two” (Robinson 2025, 44). This is “Deconstruction,” as it is often called. Though many definitions have been offered to deconstruction, Robinson remarks, “most Christian sociologists have concluded that it speaks of people, primarily young people, who have rejected their... Read more

Who is traditionally believed to have written the book of Ecclesiastes?