Two days ago, I was in the airport terminal of Izmir, Turkey, reflecting with a friend. I have known Sandy since 1969. Our friendship goes back to ministry days in San Diego, but we have hardly seen each other since 1972. I left for seminary training in Portland. Sandy went on to become a Marriage,[…]
Read MoreExcellent read... thank you
Every week, I get the pleasure of dialoguing with future leaders of the church, a.k.a. seminary students. I am confident in them, though I fear for the contemporary church and its waning influence. These students will enter a world that is losing both its mind and its soul. They will step into churches, some of[…]
Read MoreIt is a good thing to ponder. It makes one want to look deeper at the text, and does the…
Last night in class, one of my students asked me how many sermons I have preached over the course of 35 years. A brief calculation suggests approximately 1400 sermons. How many times I have spoken is another matter, given I typically preached 2-5 times per week. That’s a lot of sermonizing—a lot of my life–a[…]
Read MoreYou have given us a clear picture and we MUST act. One wonders, in this battle with the enemy,…
We can ill-afford to have an insulated, self-absorbed, accommodating faith. Not ever, but especially not today. If the church has any hope of changing this world, it must recover its conviction of the Word’s authority (without picking and choosing what we want to agree with). Believers must be as intentional as ever to engage with[…]
Read MoreInteresting how it took you getting into the smaller things of life in these areas to reflect on the much…
I knew it would be an ambitious undertaking, but I and eleven others decided to discover what God is doing in the Middle East. It wasn’t a tour. This isn’t some travelogue. Sure we wanted to see some things—the Pyramids, Galilee at sunrise, the Jordanian desert, and the fortress at Byblos. We wanted to experience[…]
Read More11:00 am this Saturday, another group of future ministry leaders will join in a seminary processional to be inspired, cheered on, prayed over, and sent out. After the pictures, graduates will set aside their gowns and get on with life. Some (hopefully most) will tack their diplomas on a wall and flourish in ministry. There[…]
Read MoreMaybe you have heard of Jordan Peterson. I was not aware of this Canadian psychologist until I read Peggy Noonan’s recent column, “Who’s Afraid of Jordan Peterson?” So now I am reading his 12 Rules for Life (near the top of bestseller lists), and his insights are riveting. I am reading slowly—my mind needs to.[…]
Read MoreWhen I pastored in The Netherlands, one of my first objectives was to gather the church’s formal leadership and wrestle with the future direction of the church. Many of the congregants were corporate and governmental leaders, so I invited one of them to come and advise us. At the time, this man was with Fluor[…]
Read MoreYou sure gave us something more imaginative. Lots of new insights considering Joseph who was married to the mother of…
Christmas weekend is coming, and I am guessing most pastors are sweating by now. I know they are. For thirty two years, I came into Christmas Eve and morning services with fear and trepidation. What do you say that hasn’t been said? And should anything be said that hasn’t been said? There are things you[…]
Read Morehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hINfyhuTt0&feature=share This was on Facebook today, and it reminded me of some of the elements in your sermon today…
Open the newspaper today, turn to news about the Middle East, and you will read about unrest in Israel, clashes between police and protestors in front of the American embassy in Beirut, and Palestinian rage over Washington’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Throw in the day to day rage between Sunni and Shi’ite[…]
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Reading Abba's Child for the 4th, maybe 5th time. I am once again awakened to the question; am I living…