God to God in Prayer and Worship Believers tend to admire those who spend a long time in prayer. They must be especially devout. The rest of us usually feel guilty in comparison. Yet highly admired Christian leaders taught otherwise. Augustine of Hippo (5th century) preferred “very brief, quickly dispatched prayers.” Thomas Aquinas (13th century) […]
Read MoreThink of spiritual growth as going through stages of development. Martin Luther himself offered a three-stage scheme of faith development. First is learning the external rules of church life. The second is living faithfully but out of guilt with no joy. The third is living with a heart changed by the Holy Spirit, who makes […]
Read MoreAre you interested in growing spiritually? Most Christians are not. The usual category for this topic is discipleship. Believers should want to become more like Christ. However, in my experience, most don’t because they do not understand the benefits of such growth. This is because they do not understand the work of the Holy Spirit. […]
Read MoreWitness Through Servant Behavior Giving witness to young adults is one of the biggest challenges facing churches today. Building up attractional community churches is one answer, and many are doing well. Developing small missional communities beyond the building is another promising approach. What about reaching out through social media? This is the natural habitat for […]
Read MoreAccording to the World Almanac, there are 168 Christian denominations in 13 major groupings in the United States. There is no way to get a total on how many church networks there are in this country. No association of non-denominational community churches exists that could tally their numbers. The best I can do is a […]
Read MoreI Like Sermons Make you think of your own personal life relating to what God would want us to be like in our daily walk with Him. Not a guilt trip, but encouragement. We need to hear the Law, but the Gospel as well! Attraction to a Congregation The main attraction is music in […]
Read MoreThe Most Engaging Part(s) of Worship I love “spontaneous” worship, Spontaneous worship can happen at the end of a worship set, in between songs, or even in the middle of a song. In the moment, it really lets you focus on your worship to God and feeling the Holy Spirit’s presence around you. I Like […]
Read MoreAs we leave 2020 behind, I thought I would share my most popular blogs of the year that engaged most readers like you. I’m often told they are encouraging and help readers. I hope they help you! Ministering to Those in Same-Sex Relationships Keep Your Sermon Simple and to the Point; Don’t Forget the Gospel […]
Read MoreI’ve reached 3 BIG milestones in 2021! Milestone #1: I hit 100 blogs! Over the span of two years, I have sent out over 100 weekly blogs. My open rates range from 25-50% each week! I have had over 1,200 comments on my website alone related to the blogs and well over a thousand on social media. My […]
Read MoreThe Easter promise of Christ’s resurrected life is applied to our resurrected life, too. That is the message preached in Christian churches all over the world. What wonderful news! The preached promise of Easter, however, loses some of its power in three ways: when resurrected life is reduced to the springtime freshness, when the resurrected […]
Read MoreOne of the popular books in my seminary days was The Secular City, in which Harvey Cox tried to work out a theology for the “post-religious” age that many sociologists had confidently assured was coming. Since then, he says some religions seem to have gained a new lease on life. Today it is secularity, not […]
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