Hello Rich, my wife and I have been attending the church for several years and we have always appreciated your wisdom and insight into things. We have a bit of a strange question but I would think you have probably had this asked before. We are pregnant with twin boys and are debating having them circumcised. We could not really find medical direction in favor of circumcision but wondered if there was any biblical direction on this front.
The God of the Bible is a sending God; he sent his Son into the world to pay for our sins on the cross. He sends his Spirit to regenerate those whom he calls and to empower us for mission. And he sends his people out into the world to "make disciples of all nations" (Matthew 28.19). God's ultimate goal in sending his Son, his Spirit, and his people is to gather a countless multitude from every ethnicity to ultimately stand before his throne "praising God and the Lamb" (Revelation 7.9-10).
For years our church put up large billboards in several locations around the city. The billboards simply asked the following question in huge letters: "Looking for God?" If you talk with people about spiritual things, as I regularly do, there are an amazing variety of ways that people have of experiencing God. Because God is the Creator of this world, many people experience something of God by being out in nature. I've talked with hunters who say that one of the things they love about hunting is not just getting a deer. It is being in the woods at the crack of dawn when everything is still. It seems that every breeze communicates something of God's Presence.
Every year millions of us write out New Year's resolutions for the coming year. Our resolutions may involve losing weight, exercising more, breaking a bad habit; and, for Christians, growing in our relationship with God. We Christians are given an extraordinary instrument of change - namely, the Word of God. God has personally communicated to us in the scriptures. When we open-heartedly receive God's self-revelation, we can expect to be changed. Here are some biblical pictures that express the transforming power of God's Word:
If you were to ask newspaper editors, "What is the biggest religious story of the last century?" you would probably hear about growing religious diversity in America and in the Western world. You might hear about the rise of militant Islam. Some newspaper editors might point to the historic changes in the Catholic Church as a result of Vatican II. And some editors might even single out the defeat of atheism with the fall of worldwide communism.
“There’s a gulf as wide as the ocean between the average politically active conservative and the average politically active liberal. We don’t just have political differences; we view the world through very different eyes.” So wrote John Hawkins, who runs Right Wing News, at the beginning of the year.
I just finished reading the Grand Jury report concerning the indictment of the former Penn State University coach for multiple instances of the sexual abuse of children. Words cannot describe the feeling that one has when reading explicit descriptions of child sexual abuse: I was sickened, broken-hearted, outraged, revolted at the failure of those in the Penn State Athletic Department to report their observed abuse to Child Protection Services or to law enforcement agencies.
Pastors and church planters face enormous demands as we try to juggle family responsibilities, ministry, and often, school and part-time jobs. How can we live sustainable lives? We read of tragic pastoral failures on a weekly basis. Most pastors don’t last in the ministry for five years (perhaps the only way we pastors are like pro football players!). I’ve been a pastor for 25 years. Here are ten practices that have enabled me to pastor for the long-haul.
I've been preaching for the last few weeks from a sermon series entitled "Myths That Christians Believe." This past weekend ( May 28 - 29) my sermon title was:
Time Magazine called Rob Bell, "The hipper-than-thou-pastor" which immediately raised the question for me: "How can I get that label?" Perhaps I could wear hipster glasses like Pastor Bell? Or more probably I need a complete personality transplant so that I, too, can be a "hipper-than-thou" pastor? (Those of you who know me, stop snickering!)