Most Popular Posts of 2016

My great passion for writing here at One Degree to Another is to see people formed into the image of Jesus Christ. This means growing slowly in every area of our lives each day. As I looked back over my most read posts from this year, they reflect what I’m aiming for in life and ministry- that we slowly and continually make progress towards demonstrating the glory and character of Christ in practical ways.

For those who have been reading from the beginning and who just discovered my blog this week, I’m grateful that you take the time to read and share. I took some time this week to plan out what I will be writing on in the first few months of 2017 and look forward to seeing how the Lord uses it to transform us into the image of Christ.

Eight Passages Every Christian Should Memorize

There are some large sections of Scripture whose message is so central to the Bible’s message and how we live the Christian life that we need to know them by heart. This list covers many well-known passages that are at least eight verses long or more.

The First 15 Verses a Christian Needs to Memorize

In response to the post on passages every Christian should memorize, I had a lot of people asking why I didn’t include John 3:16, Romans 3:23, or many other important individual verses. If I were a believer just getting into Scripture memory, I would start with these fifteen verses.

On a related note, I received several comments that argued we shouldn’t memorize Scripture, but should simply live it out. The Psalmist’s comment that he hid God’s word in his heart so he might not sin against him helps us here. We memorize as a way of hiding God’s word deep in our souls so that we can live in a manner that brings glory to him.

48 Scattered Thoughts on Pastoral Ministry and Being a Pastor

Earlier this year, I got a later start on my sermon than I should have. Then, I had to be up later on Saturday night than I should have and woke up later Sunday morning than I needed to. This created extra stress on Sunday morning and the thought crossed my mind, “I know better than this. I learned this my first year of ministry.” It led me to start writing some other things I would say to pastors about pastoral ministry and being a pastor.

How Do I Know if My Child is a Christian?

One of the most sensitive issues parents deal with is discerning when their child has trusted in Christ. We can be very excited that they seem to be converted while at the same time being mindful of the possibility of a false profession of faith. These questions are intended to help discern the marks of true conversion in our children’s lives.

The Joy and Pain of Consistent Parenting

I wrote this reflection on Proverbs 29:17 in the middle of the night after multiple children woke me up. Parenting is hard, yet doing the hard thing in parenting can lead to more joy in the future. Taking the easy way out will ultimately lead to more work and misery in the end.

Why We Need Anonymous, Plodding Church Planters

We need to plant more churches to reach more people with the Gospel. Unfortunately, many men see well-known church planters and think this is the path they will be taking. To plant the churches we need to plant, we need thousands of men who are willing for their names to be known only in their communities. The work is hard and the work is long. We need guys who are willing to stay, work hard, and live in obscurity.

Six Foolish Things I Used to Believe about the Ministry

When I was a young pastor, I said to a friend, “I want the people in my church to understand theology so well that I can just say a word and they know what it means without me having to explain it.” I don’t know why this particularly ridiculous quote stuck with me, but it reminded me of some foolish things I used to believe about the ministry.

How to Remember Someone’s Name

Christians are called to love our neighbors, and knowing a person’s name is a good first step towards loving them well. Unfortunately, we seem to make a lot of excuses for why we cannot remember the names of people we meet. This post has a few of the tools I use to remember someone after I meet them.

The Best Quotes from Hidden Christmas

I loved Tim Keller’s new book, Hidden Christmas. It contains expositions of Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2, and the first paragraph of 1 John. This is a list of my twenty favorite quotes.

What to Do When You Are in a Spiritual Dry Spell

We have all be in places where it felt like we were making no progress in our walking with Jesus. This post prescribes some steps we can take to begin experiencing the joy of knowing Jesus again.