How to Improve Your Biblical Literacy

Last updated on: August 2, 2018 at 1:16 pm By Scott Slayton

I recently heard Jen Wilkin argue that the American church faces a biblical literacy crisis. From the discussions that I have and the comments that I read, I could not agree more. Most Christians do not know the basics of the biblical storyline, basic facts about the Bible’s major characters, or the texts on which our most foundational doctrines are built. Many Christians try to have in-depth discussions about ethics and the relationship between Christianity and the government without knowing... Read more

Five Questions I Ask of Every Sermon

Last updated on: August 7, 2018 at 3:35 pm By Scott Slayton

One of my life’s greatest privileges is preaching God’s word week in and week out. I have been doing this for over fifteen years now and steadily look for ways to grow in my skill as a preacher. One of the unfortunate things I have discovered is that I can fall into lazy habits and practices if I do not think carefully about my sermon preparation. Last year I developed a set of questions to ask myself about every sermon... Read more

Four Resolutions Every Christian Must Make about Our Phones

Last updated on: June 26, 2018 at 6:35 pm By Scott Slayton

When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone in 2007, we knew we were looking at an amazing technology that would revolutionize how we used the Internet. What we did not know is how much these devices were going to change us. From the moment Apple declared that “there’s an app for that,” the percentage of our day spent staring at screens increased. For Christians, we could possibly say that our phones improve our spiritual lives. We have access to a... Read more

Psalms for Men Who Are Struggling

Last updated on: August 19, 2018 at 9:48 pm By Scott Slayton

Men face overwhelming pressures both internal and external. We feel an internal drive to provide for our families and to contribute to our communities. Whether we want to admit it or not, we struggle with the expectations other people place on us too. We have trained ourselves to ignore the nagging pain because we can’t show weakness. Our churches often don’t know what to do with the weight men carry. Too often, we berate men for their failures without pointing... Read more

Watching our Words in the Age of Outrage

Last updated on: August 15, 2018 at 1:54 pm By Scott Slayton

When James wrote “no human being can tame the tongue,” I doubt he knew what the media landscape would look like 2018, but his Spirit-inspired words accurately describe the age in which we find ourselves. That he wrote these words almost two thousand years ago tells us something about human nature. Twitter, Facebook, text messaging, and television did not produce our overabundance of cruel language, but they did create the means through which our words could be broadcasted farther... Read more

How to Sharpen Your Concentration for Bible Reading

Last updated on: August 7, 2018 at 6:05 pm By Scott Slayton

We live in a distracted age. We sneak frequent glances at our phones and get immersed in things that don’t matter in the long run. This has consequences for our work and family lives. It also wreaks havoc on our Bible reading. When we struggle to pay attention, it makes it difficult for us to read God’s word profitably. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can regain our attention span and drill deep into God’s word, but it... Read more

God Doesn’t Give Second Chances

Last updated on: August 15, 2018 at 1:56 pm By Scott Slayton

Too often, we use phrases to try to simplify the Gospel message, but they end up obscuring the Gospel. Possibly the worst offender in this category in the phrase, “God gives second chances.” We love second chances. We love the idea that God gives us unlimited do-overs when we mess up. We love to hear that God gives second chances, and third chances, and fourth chances. It makes it sound as if God is tolerant, reasonable, and kind. I want... Read more

The Best Quotes from How to Get Unstuck

Last updated on: April 30, 2018 at 12:35 pm By Scott Slayton

We struggle to get the right things done more than we ever have. Between constant distractions, text messages, and overflowing inboxes, it can be hard to know what we should do next and how we should work hard so that we produce good work that brings us joy and benefits other people. Matt Perman helps us break the logjam in his new book How to Get Unstuck, which makes a great companion to his previous book What’s Best Next. Perman... Read more

When Your Spiritual Life is Dry

Last updated on: April 25, 2018 at 11:18 am By Scott Slayton

All Christians experience spiritual dry spells. There are no exceptions. We will go through periods where God seems distant, prayer is difficult, Bible-reading feels dead, worship doesn’t excite, and a sense of purposelessness descends on us. When you run into a spiritual desert, what do you do? I want to suggest ten strategies for dealing with a spiritual dry spell. I am not advocating that you try all ten, but rather that you try several of them in order to... Read more

Why You Should Study Theology

Last updated on: April 17, 2018 at 10:24 pm By Scott Slayton

Recently I was in a restaurant and a Bible study group was meeting at a nearby table. The leader had a voice that carried, so I could have heard a good portion of the study, but the first thing I heard him say so captured my attention that I missed the rest of it. He said, “I love non-denominational churches because doctrine is not life-giving.” I will set aside the comment about non-denominational churches not having doctrine for another day.... Read more