Most of us have ideas about what it means to be a pastor. Even if you’re not a pastor, you probably have some idea about what it means to be a pastor. But not so many have thought about what it means to be a sheep of a pastor. As. [...]
My daughter ran hurdles in high school until she face planted on one. I don’t know if it was her front foot or back foot that got caught. We weren’t there. The paramedics called us while the ambulance was on the way to the hospital. She knocked herself out and. [...]
Ouch! These are painful words. They’re some of the most painful words I’ve heard parents say. It is usually at the end of the story about how their teenage son or daughter walked away from the faith. Sometimes there are tears, sometimes anger when this is expressed to me.. [...]
This year’s testimony of Joseph Bondarenko at the Gatlinburg conference reminded me of Peter and John. As I listened to Bondarenko describe how the KGB paraded him in front of an assembly of his fellow college students and told him to choose between God and a diploma, I thought of. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, June 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: Thank you for praying for our annual CSM Gatlinburg Conference. It was a wonderful time in the Lord focusing on the “Unshakable” reality of Christ’s Kingdom in shaking times. The testimonies we heard were inspiring and instructive. In this letter, I. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, May 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: I grew up with lots of labels; there were racial, religious, political, geographic and all kinds of labels and stereotypes. It has taken me awhile to grow past trusting labels that have led to a lot of stereotypes. Early on, I. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, April 2016 Dear Friends, Late one cold and icy evening, a woman was driving home with her baby daughter strapped in her car seat. For some reason, the woman missed a bridge and the car tumbled down a slope into the shallow, frigid stream below. The mother. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, March 2016 Dear Friends, I want to address what I believe is the biggest hindrance to a great revival. We see it in chapter 4 of James where the apostle is writing to scattered Jewish believers, and asks a very important question: “Where do wars and fights. [...]
The all-time greatest leader is Jesus, without question. We who follow Him need to take another look at how He led and created other great leaders. He prayed, He chose, He demonstrated, He taught, and He imparted through relationships. Then He commanded them to reproduce what He had done. The. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, February 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: What I want to say in this letter is, “Get over it.” Get over the fence of offense. If we fail to get over offenses, we will miss the truth that offense conceals. Let’s talk first about offense. “Offense” in sports. [...]
Publication: Pastoral Letter, January 2016 Dear Friend in Christ: Happy New Year! I pray that you had a wonderful Christmas season and that the presence of God very near to you and yours. Â We thank God for you and appreciate your friendship. As we enter 2016, I want to share. [...]
Today, I had lunch with my friend Mike Coleman. In the course of our conversation, he told me about attending the local mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, where the guest speaker was the founder of a very successful company, Two Men and a Truck. The speaker used a metaphor that has been. [...]