After almost 10 years in youth ministry, I have come to the conclusion that a good portion of success in ministry is derived from having a great team. In my opinion, no ministry can be successful if the leader is trying to operate alone. Having been blessed to have worked with some of the greatest […]
It may be a little more ironic, but the first time I ever hear the term postmodernism was not in a classroom or a book, but in a church. It was about 15 years ago in a small church in central Texas, and the pastor was decrying the evils of this new philosophy. He instilled […]
In the early ’70s, I was an unsaved, nonreligious, 17-year-old who was not even sure if God was real. A year or so earlier, my mother, brother, and sister had accepted Christ at the Cromartie Street Church of God in my hometown of Hazlehurst, Georgia. Many of my friends also accepted Christ during a powerful […]
Several years ago, I preached a sermon titled “The Three Chairs.” The sermon discusses the patterns of declining faith in three generations. It can be seen in Abraham, Issac, and Esau; as well as David, Solomon, and Rehoboam. The three chairs could be titled “Commitment, Compromise, and Complacency.” Recognizing a Trend Sociologists and historians have […]
Preaching a gospel message to kids can be intimidating. While adults will at least pretend to pay attention to the preacher (even if their mind is a million miles away), kids won’t. Instead, if kids are bored, they’ll fidget, kick their neighbor, yawn really loudly, or even ask to go to the bathroom. How can […]
While we hesitate to equate ministry as a profession, church leaders should be driven to excel. They cannot afford complacency and mediocrity. When ministry becomes common, we have become like the Laodicean church in Revelation 3 – in our mind we have arrived, but in God’s mind we are repulsive! In our pursuit of excellence, […]
More growth and development takes place during the first three years of life than at any other time, according to Diane Trister Dodge and Cate Heroman, authors of Building Your Baby’s Brain: A Parent’s Guide to the First Five Years. So why is it that the nursery is usually the most neglected area of the […]
Christian virtues are the qualities and traits of moral excellence and strength that were seen in Jesus Christ and heard in His teaching. In the New Testament, these virtues are identified as “the fruit of the Spirit” in the life of the believer in Christ, manifested “in all goodness, righteousness and truth” (Eph. 5:9). These […]
Giving the Great Commission to the Church, Jesus commanded, “Go ye [all of you] therefore, and teach [make disciples of] all nations . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:19-20 KJV). Since the founding of the first Sunday school by Robert Raikes in England in 1780, Sunday […]
The Christian faith is focused on the person of Jesus Christ. “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). There is no higher authority than Christ himself and the written authority of Scripture for our lives. My allegiance and loyalty is to Jesus Christ, to His people, […]