My First Step in Sermon Preparation
How you start sermon preparation is very important. I often relate sermon preparation to bearing a child. Though I am a man, and will never carry a child, I have watched my wife go through the process twice and this has made the analogy all the more vivid for me. (However, I don’t suggest that you tell your 8 month...
The Most Important Question I Ask Before a Meeting
The very nature of my position of leadership in the church demands that I spend a lot of time in meetings. "Meetings are toxic," wrote Fried and Hansson in their book, "Rework," and for the most part I tend to agree. However, meetings are a necessary evil in many of our organizations, so we must use them wisely or...
Who I am Drives What I Do (Not The Other Way Around)
When I used to be involved in Gospel magic, I remember a highly acclaimed magician getting up at one of our national conferences and explaining that what he does is not who he is. At first I didn't quite understand what he meant. You're a magician, that's who you are! Are you telling us you are resigning as a magician?! I...
Living Boldly No Matter Your Age – 1 Timothy 4:12
Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. (1 Timothy 4:12 ESV) As a young pastor (often leading people older than me), I struggle with the truth of this passage. I don't struggle with it's truthfulness, I struggle with my own insecurities. When the Apostle...
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 Makes A Magnificent Mother?
Maybe you would argue with me, but I am pretty sure my mom is the world’s most amazing mother. She has given me more than I ever asked for (and trust me, I’ve asked for a lot), she bandaged my scrapped knees as a kid, and when road of life has been rough she has helped to bandage my...
God’s Love is Found in His Presence
Honesty clears away the falsehoods that keep us from seeing God’s love as it really is. Way back in Eden, the entire drama of human history began with the serpent’s lie: “Eat of this tree and you’ll be like God.” And he’s been lying ever since. Jesus went so far as to say, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for...
The Importance of Getting It Out
There are often things that gnaw at our soul, but we don’t realize it or want to admit it. Sadly, these things erode our inner-self. The busyness of life, along with our concoctions of self-denial, keep us from stopping the subtle destruction. If we were honest, we have many many destructive secret thoughts… but we don’t want to be...
The Importance of Slowing Down and Giving a Second Glance
The bottom of his pants were splashed with mud and it looked as if this homeless man had been walking for days. It was raining; he was cold and had already used up the last bit of change that he had been saving. He slowly walked past a coffee shop as the owner emerged to lock up for the...
Coram Deo: Live Life Before the Face of God
How foolish are we to hide from God? If you’re like me, you have times in your life when you try to get away from God in hopes that he won’t find you, convict you, or even change you. I’m under the firm belief that if we would just be people who are completely transparent with God, we’d experience true transformation....
The Importance of Being You in the Pulpit
“Become the sermon,” said the wise old sage of preaching to his zealous student, “Allow the message to become as natural to you as breathing. Don’t try to breath through someone else’s lungs and vibrate someone else’s vocal cords. Use your own.” There is great wisdom in these words. However, finding the courage to live them out in the pulpit...
Where is your hope?
H-O-P-E. As a child, I always thought “Hope” was just the girl who lived across the street. As I’ve grown up, I’ve come to learn that “Hope” is an essential tool on the road of life. The dictionary defines “hope” as, “A feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” Getting through the rough and often-unexpected trials of life...