March 15th, 2016
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One day during a heated doctrinal debate at presbytery my wife walked into the back the church sanctuary where we were having our meeting. She was supposed to meet me for dinner so she arrived a few minutes early.
March 8th, 2016
When I was an intern I served at a church that had its building by a main road. This meant that we received our fair share of people who were looking for handouts. Rather than usher the people away, the elders of the church made a genuine effort to help people with diaconal assistance.
March 1st, 2016
In our culture there are many things that society tells us makes a man—can he earn a healthy salary? Does he own a house? Drive a truck? Wear stylish clothes? Popular with women? Bench press 250? You get the idea.
February 23rd, 2016
At times I find myself swimming against the tide of popular trends. In particular, one such trend where I find myself out of place is in the desire to read biographies of great Christians. In general, I’m not opposed to learning about the lives of famous Christians, but I do have two concerns.
February 16th, 2016
I think when people imagine what it’s like to receive pastoral counseling, they envision their pastor or elder giving them wonderful advice. And, to a certain extent, this is true. When you have a problem and need advice, your pastor or elder should be able to give you sound counsel.
February 9th, 2016
One of the things that the pastorate can do is take a toll on your body. Perhaps it’s because the pastorate is conducive to a sedentary lifestyle—you sit at your desk and study for hours, then you meet someone for lunch, show up to a church social and eat a stack of cookies piled high on your tiny cocktail napkin, and then meet someone at your local coffee shop and, why not, go ahead and grab a scone.
February 2nd, 2016
As a pastor you will meet a lot of different people throughout the course of your ministry. I have met fighter pilots, professional athletes, contractors, school teachers, stay-at-home moms, accountants, politicians, musicians, children, students, and the like.
January 26th, 2016
I’m not sure why, but pastors often fail miserably at performing funerals. I can remember sitting in a funeral service where the pastor stood before a very large congregation and admitted he was at a loss for words—he did not know what to say. Ok, fair enough.
January 19th, 2016
All you have to do is read the headlines on the interweb to know that we live in some crazy times. It seems like people are all to willing to use violence as a means of promoting their agenda.
January 12th, 2016
One of the biggest surprises in my ministry was the opposition to the gospel that arose within my own church. I always assumed there would be opposition to the gospel from outside the church, from the unbelieving world.
May 6th, 2014
When I was regularly preparing my weekly sermons I often wondered whether I would make any type of impact upon my church. After all, a pastor will pour anywhere between 10-20 hours of preparation to preach for 30 minutes, give or take.
April 9th, 2014
Seminary taught me of God’s character more than anything else. It showed me that I worship a powerful, perfect and Holy God who ordains all for my good and His glory.
April 2nd, 2014
If the Holy Spirit is at work in my life, shouldn’t I be sinning less? Isn’t that what sanctification means? If so, am I even a Christian when sin is still so present in my life?
March 26th, 2014
I have never liked being wrong. However, I have reason to be thankful for multiple experiences of being blindingly, flamboyantly, and gloriously mistaken.
March 19th, 2014
Now I am discovering to be content and joyful when I remain unseen.
March 13th, 2014
The digital age is upon us and that means that there is a publishing revolution that is afoot. It used to be that seminary students and ministers had to make a lot of space on their bookshelves for all of the tomes they wanted to own, but with the creation of the e-book, all of a sudden things have changed.
March 12th, 2014
I was able to show this young woman how her story, albeit difficult at the moment, could fit into the story of God and His redemption.
March 5th, 2014
“Before the WDP [Women’s Discipleship Program], we were like dry branches. Now, we are full of leaves.”
February 26th, 2014
Now as a student at a Roman Catholic institution, I have a number of opportunities to reflect upon a theological system very different from my own.
February 19th, 2014
I did not go to seminary to marry a pastor. In fact, I was pretty scared of the possibility.
