Articles
What Is A Life Transformed By Christ?
One of the things I loved about working at Mission Hills is that our vision is clear and concise: Transformed Lives. But as the Discipleship Pastor, my role demanded that I accurately define what it means for a life to be transformed by Christ. Our values clarify why this type of change is important, but we had never really defined what...
Creating Your Perfect Preaching Space
"Let’s get rid of the pulpit,” were some of my first words when starting my first senior pastor role in 2009. I was preparing to preach every week, which was different than what I had done in the past. I knew I quickly had to find what was comfortable for me. Sunday comes with amazing regularity, so finding a setup...
From One Pastor to Another: A note to Davey Blackburn
Today is my sermon prep day, but I can't seem to get my notes done. My heart hurts for a fellow pastor. Allow me to explain... I was taking a casual stroll down my Facebook stream last night before going to bed. I noticed a post one of my college friends made about a close friend of hers who had died....
The Real Reason You May Be Lacking Confidence
This is a little-known secret about me, but I really struggle with confidence. I always have. People assume that because I am on stage and a leader in some circles that I do not struggle with confidence. However, I would say it is my biggest weakness. By God's grace, I am getting through and I have some great voices in...
You Can’t Just Preach Away the Problem
Many pastors think that if you preach at a problem that will fix it. I was one of those pastors (perhaps I still am at times). If you preach often, I am sure you can identify with me - you see a problem in the church, so you plan a sermon to preach at the problem, sure that in the...
The Only Way to Survive Change: Perspective
“Life has a way of stepping on its own toes," one of my professors said in college and I had no idea how right he was. “Life has a way of getting in the way of life.” This has proven true the longer I've lived. Change is Inevitable, Perspective is Everything I consider myself a change junkie. I am the kind of...
Stop Scourging Yourself
Honesty relieves us of the scourge of self-judgment. So long as we remain in hiding, alone with our sin, it is easy to wallow in guilt and shame. We flog ourselves with memories of every time we failed to live up to expectations—ours or those of others—and cringe with shock and dismay at the depth of our unworthiness. Since...
What it takes to Keep Falling in Love in Marriage
I have been formally counseling married people for over three years now, and the one thing I hear more than anything is, “We’ve fallen out of love.” Let me start by putting my opinion right up front: you cannot “fall out of love”. You can stop liking a person, but to fall out of love is a choice to neglect...
The Pure Excitement of First Time Experiences
Last year my daughter, Grace, met Winnie the Pooh for the first time. Come to think of it, so did I - yet there was a drastic difference in the set of emotions the two of us felt. Grace did not stop squealing at the top of her tiny little lungs. Her excitement to see this character, of whom she...
Asaph’s Honesty
Do you know about the guy named Asaph in the Old Testament who truly shared with God what was on his mind? Asaph was a temple worship leader. He must have had a great voice in addition to his good lineage because he was elected to the lead-singer position. He did his job well and was influential. Some of the...
Does Yelling Make Me a Bad or Unfit Parent?
We had minutes until the carpool van arrived at the house. It was time for everyone to get dressed, four lunches to be packed, seven people fed breakfast, and maybe a word of encouragement or prayer before we all parted ways. As I stood by the counter, furiously trying to make eggs, toast, and coffee while discussing the day’s...
“Abide” – What Does it Mean to “Remain in Christ”?
This weekend I started the new sermon series called “Abide”. For two weeks we will be studying what God says through His Word in Chapter 15 of John. Perhaps there is no more important sermon Christ gave while on earth than the simple instruction to abide in Him. But what does that really mean? What does it look like for...