We’ve all worked for that person who used meetings as social gatherings, pulpits, and pep rallies rather than for more productive reasons. We leave thinking the leader could have summed up these hour-long life drains in a well-worded email. Maybe you have led some of those meetings, but what if there was a better way? John who wrote, “Though I have … Read More
Visitors Prefer Preaching – Sermon Quality
We preachers always knew sermons were important to church visitors, but now we have the data to prove it! The Pew Research Center recently released the results of a survey of 5,000 Americans about whether they have ever changed churches and, if so, how they search for a new church. And the number one factor cited by respondents? Quality of … Read More
Worship and Krispy Kreme Doughnuts
As a pastor you don’t have a choice about which service you attend – unless you have a youth pastor to send to that service with all the complainers – but your members make a decision about which service to attend if there is more than one offering. So how do they make that decision? In a recent podcast, Thom … Read More
We Are Ambassadors for Christ
Some of you remember the Cold War, the “peaceful” conflict between the United States and the former Soviet Union that occurred after WWII into the late 80’s and early 90’s. My family had a front row seat to the conflict. My father was the senior enlisted soldier for Army intelligence in West Berlin, Germany from 1981-1986. We lived 100 miles … Read More
What is God Doing in the World?
I am just back from the United Kingdom, where I was doing some work on next year’s International Congress on Preaching, which will be held August 8-10 in Cambridge, England. Learn more at www.icop2017.com. Working on this event reminds me that God is doing so much beyond the borders of the United States. Particularly in Africa, Asia and South America, millions … Read More
Why Study ABOUT the Bible?
Every semester the first class for many of our freshmen at Anderson University is an 8:00AM class and is the course “Introduction to the Bible”. As I start every class with a question, their first encounter with higher education is the question, “Why study about the Christian Bible?” The student’s answers are often predictable. We study the Bible to learn … Read More
Why Study Theology at the University
heological education has changed. When I started my first semester of seminary nearly twenty years ago, it remained a brick-and-mortar, residential experience. At the time, I served a church located 95 miles from the campus, which introduced all sorts of complexity and inconvenience. Yet, it was simply understood that suffering inconvenience was part of the effort to be equipped. Then … Read More
For Those Who Want to Teach Theology
As with any profession, occasionally someone (a student, usually) approach me with a question: how can I do what you do? What they mean, of course, is teach ministry and theology in an academic setting. Normally, I respond with something like, “Great! Stay in school until you finish out, but don’t be an egghead. Serve a church the whole way … Read More
Choosing the Best Bible Translation
Clemson versus USC. Coke versus sweet tea. Krispy Kreme versus Dunkin Donuts. The mere mention of such subjects will likely spawn spirited squabbles among some South Carolina Baptists. But one topic towers above all in its potential to produce dissent and debate in the pews. No, not politics. Bible translations. When it comes to translations, most Christians have their preference, … Read More