It’s been six months since we lost a friend, a neighbor, a teammate, a brother, a son. Park Stevens’ death is something many of us are still coping with. Through it all, I am honored and humbled by the loving embrace given to Park’s family, and inspired by how Park’s legacy continues on even to this day. Viewed more than all of my other posts in 2013 combined, this is the #1 post of 2013: This past Saturday, I preached... Read more

The second most read blog post of 2013 has to do with why marriages fail. If I had to rewrite the post, I would add a big 12th reason: money issues. It’s marriage week here at MTVPastor. A few days ago my gorgeous wife Robin and I celebrated our 11 year anniversary. In honor of that, I’ll be sharing my thoughts on marriage in three different posts. Today I’ll share 11 reasons why marriages fail. Wednesday I’ll write on 11... Read more

originally posted in April 2013, with more and more states approving gay marriage, this post seems even that much more prescient: I believe that gay marriage is coming, whether we like it or not, whether we agree with it or not. Rather than another conservative evangelical diatribe on the rights and wrongs of the issue, these next two posts will be suggestions on how we should respond once gay marriage becomes legal nationwide. (Although I doubt it will happen with... Read more

Technically I’m down to 597 marbles now with Zeke. Make every week count! I have 601 weeks left until my oldest son Zeke graduates high school. I know that may seem like a lot, but when he was born I had 936 weeks. I’ve already lost a third of my time with him. In his book Playing for Keeps, author Reggie Joiner makes a great suggestion to help parents visualize the amount of time they have left with their kids. He... Read more

This post was written in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing, a tragic event that stunned the nation. At the time of this writing, one suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing is dead, with the other one on the run. Another stark reminder of the tragedy that happened so recently. The bigger question many ask is this, “If God was such a good God, why would he allow bad things to happen to good people?” It’s easy to see... Read more

Update: If your child has an iPhone, the ios7 update has a feature that can filter explicit websites from all apps. Make sure to install it in parental controls! If you’re a parent with a son still living at home, then you need to read this. The most dangerous thing you can give your son is unfiltered internet access. I know you know there’s some bad stuff on the internet (primarily porn), but it’s worse and more pervasive than you think.... Read more

I wrote three posts in honor of my marriage anniversary. Here’s the one that cracked the top ten: On Monday I started a series of posts on marriage in honor of my eleven year marriage anniversary. Today is part two, on 11 Ways to Make Your Marriage Awesome. In no way do I claim that this list is exhaustive or comprehensive. These are simply eleven things you can do to improve your marriage. Hope it helps! 1. Pray together every day. This simple... Read more