October 5th, 2017
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The biblical truth of justification—that God declares guilty lawbreakers forgiven and right in his sight by his grace alone, on the ground of Jesus’ blood and righteousness alone, as they trust Christ alone—has enormous ramifications for pastoral ministry.
October 3rd, 2017
In my time as a pastor I regularly encountered people who were in dire straits—unemployed, homeless, struggling with addiction, and the like. I feel sorry for people when they suffer and always did what I could to render assistance.
September 26th, 2017
When Christians hear of the cruciform life they think that misery and sadness will mark their lives. All we have to do is read through the Bible and we quickly find the heart-wrenching cries of the saints.
September 19th, 2017
One of the more prominent words in the Scriptures is sacrifice. It appears throughout the Old Testament and in the instructions for the temple priestly service, but it also appears in the New Testament.
September 12th, 2017
As a pastor, you hope that people in your church will love, respect, and value your service to the church. This pattern marks, I believe, of the vast majority of the people in the church. At the same time, there will be some who dislike you and your ministry to the point that they will level false accusations against you.
September 5th, 2017
Every culture and period of history presents its challenges to living the Christian life. Right now, we live in an age that feeds the idol of narcissism. Social media gives just one window into how self-centered Western culture is.
August 29th, 2017
One of the more difficult questions to answer in a pastor’s life is determining when it’s time to retire from ministry. When should a pastor retire?
August 22nd, 2017
What do you do when you find yourself at the crossroads of life and there are no signposts? What happens when you lose your pastoral call and you think you should change vocations? Or what happens if you graduate from seminary and after a number of years you still haven’t been able to get a call? Should you hang up your cleats?
August 15th, 2017
Over the years I have watched a number of colleagues lose their pastorates for various reasons. This can be a very discouraging turn of events to say the least. What do you do when you’ve spent four years in college, three or four years in seminary, spent ten years in the pastorate and then inexplicably lose your call?
August 8th, 2017
In team sports athletes who do not start the game and spend a lot of time on the bench have a phrase—they “ride the pine.” That is, they sit on the pine bench rather than play in the game.
August 3rd, 2017
It is the inevitable question posed to any Ph.D. student of the Bible. In a world increasingly fixated on the practical and immediate, the notion of spending six grueling years learning dead languages and pouring over ancient documents makes little sense. What does such intense devotion to a world long gone give us in the age of Twitter and the iPhone?
August 1st, 2017
In team sports if you have the skill and ability, you can be a starter on the team. From the very first tick of the clock the coach puts you in the game. There is a great degree of satisfaction in being a starter. This parallels the experience of a seminarian who, upon graduation, is a starter.
July 25th, 2017
The last question I ask myself when I’m evaluating a sermon, including my own, is, Did I apply the text? This is an important question, though perhaps it’s often debated because people disagree on what constitutes application.
July 24th, 2017
Westminster Seminary has helped me in my role as the Coordinator for Mission to the World in giving me a strong foundation by which I am able to think theologically about missions, the church, church planting, evangelism, discipleship, leadership and many other aspects related to my current role.
July 18th, 2017
The third question I ask when evaluating sermons (including my own) is whether I preached Christ organically from the biblical text. Many preachers regularly ask this question of themselves, but at the same time they’re not quite sure how to do this.
July 11th, 2017
When I evaluate a sermon or my own preaching the second key question I ask is whether I adequately explained the biblical text. This is a distinct issue from the first question, namely, Did I exegete the biblical text?
July 4th, 2017
There are a myriad of books on preaching on the market at present and each of them presents useful information, tips, and methods for preaching a good sermon.
June 27th, 2017
One of the more painful trials of life comes to a young married couple who discover they are infertile—for one reason or another, they cannot conceive children. In a culture where people assume the natural thing to do is find a mate, get married, have children, and live happily ever after, infertility can be a difficult turn of events.
June 20th, 2017
As a pastor I have seen first-hand what pornography can do to a marriage relationship and the devastation it leaves in its wake. I normally made my pastoral visits to each household in the church and during the course of these visits I would ask people, “Are there any issues you want to discuss, any challenges you’re facing?”
June 13th, 2017
Among the many legitimate vocations that Christians can pursue, military service is certainly an acceptable choice. Serving in the military can be very beneficial. Many young people have testified to the fact that military service helped them grow up to be responsible adults.
