(This week’s blog postings are adapted from the theme address, “Preaching Under Pressure,” presented at the EK Bailey International Conference on Expository Preaching in July.) struggling Despite the myths we may hear, there has never been a “golden age” for churches in America. There have been times when the church has been stronger and other times when it was under … Read More
Pastor – Love Your Family!
My friend Jerry Drace recently wrote this for Baptist Press. It is an important reminder to all of us who serve in church leadership: A young lady approached me with a solemn, somber expression in her brown eyes, trying to hold back the tears, as I left the church auditorium’s platform after extending the invitation. “I have a personal request,” … Read More
Billy Graham: Will we reach out or turn inward?
In a recent interview with Christianity Today online, Billy Graham celebrated the good things God is doing through today’s church, but offered some appropriate words of caution: “I’m grateful for the evangelical resurgence we’ve seen across the world in the last half-century or so. It truly has been God’s doing. It wasn’t like this when I first started out, and … Read More
Don’t Fear Adapting Methodology
Preachers must the difference between the message and the method. As preachers of the Word, we have a sacred duty to be true to the Word of God as revealed in scripture. But we have freedom in the methodology we use in communicating that truth. “3 points and a poem” is not the 11th commandment. As Calvin Miller points out, … Read More
Time to Stand With Our Leaders
Leaders need to learn to take a stand against the critical members of the body that are wreaking havoc on the church.
Technology and Worship
One of the most significant trends in American church life over the past decade has been the dramatic expansion in the use of technology in the worship experience, particularly in what author Quentin Shultz calls “presentational technologies.” Walk into an American evangelical church facility built in the last 10 to 15 years and you may or may not see a … Read More