Discovering God’s Will: Conformed and Transformed

Many of my friends and associates work in churches and ministries.  Some of them talk quite a bit about being “reformed.”  They make it a point to bring this up often.  Some even go as far as to include the label on their blogs and websites.  There are debates among my Southern Baptist friends these [...]

Attempt Great Things for Who?

“Expect great things; attempt great things.” Originally spoken in his sermon to the Baptist Association meeting in Northampton, England, May 30, 1792, William Carey, the “father” of the modern missionary movement, used the citation to urge his Baptist colleagues to enter the missionary enterprise.  It formed the twofold division of his sermon, framing the challenge [...]

Google-ing John 3:16

You all have felt it. It was just a matter of time. Years of surfing the internet has finally caught up with us. Yes, I am talking about the effect of spending massive, cumulative amounts of time online on our brains.
For me, I can think back into the 1990s at some point [...]

Doctrinal Dilemmas in the 21st Century?

Is the church in the 21st century equipped for teaching and preaching sound doctrine? If we look at different trends today, one might conclude that there are issues in answering this question affirmatively.
For example, a recent report in The Christian Century indicates that the economic forces causing a “tightening of the belt” in the general [...]

Lessons Learned from a VW

Back in the early 1980s Lisa and I moved to Tallahassee, Florida so that I could attend graduate school at Florida State (Go ‘Noles!). This was less than a year after we were married and it was a time we learned a great lesson about how the Lord provides. We had packed our [...]