Awesome? Really?

A Facebook status asked, “There are so many words to describe our God. Which would be your favorite?”
My word would be awesome – not because I use it a lot but because I use it carefully and sparingly.  The word is overused such that it has lost much of its power.  But I try to only use [...]

Off to prison (ministry)

I’m going to be participating in a Kairos Prison Ministry weekend in a couple weeks so thought I’d re-run this overview.  If you have any interest in this or other prison ministry programs, I encourage you to check them out.  They may not be for everyone, but you won’t know for sure until you try.  There [...]

Book giveaway — Greg Koukl’s Tactics: A Game Plan For Discussing Your Christian Convictions

Welcome to new visitors!  Feel free to look around and leave a comment to enter. 
Just for fun and traffic, I’m having a book giveaway.  I’ve chosen Tactics: A Game Plan for Discussing your Christian Convictions by Greg Koukl.
Drawing rules:

You can enter up to two times, once by posting a comment here and once for posting something [...]

My #1 productivity tool

I get a fair amount of “Where do you find the time to ____?” comments from people.
Here’s where I get the time: I don’t watch much TV.   I watch 30 min. per day or less, and usually only 10-15 minutes.
That doesn’t make me better or more spiritual or anything else.  I can certainly waste many [...]

Go read: In Defense of Complementarianism…(Submitting to Your Husband, and Fun Things Like That)

Marie makes some excellent biblical points here — In Defense of Complementarianism…(Submitting to Your Husband, and Fun Things Like That).  Go read it.  I’ll wait here.
If you read the whole Bible I think you can’t go wrong with the guidance on marriage and families.  I’ve enjoyed teaching some small groups of men at CareNet Preganancy [...]

Guest post: Authentic Ecumenism and Rebuilding Christian Culture in One Easy Step

Uber-commenter LCB was kind enough to provide a guest post while I’m in the middle of a madly busy stretch — closing on houses, moving houses then moving a daughter to where she’ll be dancing — all in 8 days. We’re talking “hair on fire” busy. Mercifully, it has gone pretty smoothly, though [...]

More on church lists

No, not moron church lists, thought that could make an interesting post as well.
In response to a post about 10 ways to hinder your church, a commenter made some good points about other things that should be on the list:
The list is excessively focused on doctrine and public meetings. This is only a very small part [...]

10 ways to hinder your church

Pastor Timothy showed a good video about how we can fall into behaviors that hinder the church.  Any relation to your behavior or mine is purely convicting.  #3 is my biggest problem.  Et toi?
In case you don’t have time to watch it, here’s my summary:

It is all about you and what you get out of church.  [...]

Oh, the hypocrisy!

A recent commenter did all she could to avoid the topic of a post and railed at length about the hypocrisy of Christians. 
Critics have a point when they demonstrate where some Christians are hypocritical.  After all, Jesus taught to judge but not to judge hypocritically.
But unless the critics are just pointing out the hypocrisy of [...]

Auto repairs and prayers

Kevin had a post about Christian Brothers Automotive and their approach to their faith.   Read the whole article here. 
Buck Jacobs, founder of the C12 Group — a kind of Christian CEO roundtable with 700 members nationwide — said conducting business using the Golden Rule is a common strategy among Christian-oriented companies.
“You don’t have to be [...]

Hey Christians: Don’t be cheap tippers!

I have no studies to back this up, but I’ve heard too many anecdotes about some Christians being lousy tippers and that this is a defining characteristic of us for some waitstaff.  C’mon, folks, for people saved by grace we should not be perceived as being stingy.  If you can’t afford to tip properly, don’t [...]

An unusual Easter

One of our associate pastors died of a massive heart attack just before the 7:00 a.m. “Sonrise” service this morning.  He was only 50-ish and appeared to be in otherwise-good health.  Please pray for his family and the church members and especially for those involved in the attempted resuscitation.   He was a true man of [...]

Seeking God in tough times

Are people turning to religion for comfort in these tough times?
I make it a point not to claim that God is doing this or that at a specific point in time for a specific reason.  I know He is completely sovereign but it is a fairly large and complicated world to go around insisting exactly [...]

Focusing on getting rich = bad idea

Consider this powerful passage about the dangers of worshiping money and focusing on getting rich.  Especially notice the terms in bold.
1 Timothy 6:6-10 But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be [...]

Works without faith: Just as dead

This passage always seems to get people into discussion mode:
James 2:14-26 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you [...]

Christmas memories — “All I want for Christmas is . . .”

One of my favorite memories is when we took the girls to a nursing home on Christmas Eve about 10 years ago.  We passed out candy canes and some homemade Christmas cards they made.
Old folks just love kids and dogs.  While visiting with a couple ladies one of them said, “All I want for Christmas is [...]