Here are some general rules for life and ministry I find myself adopting as the years go by: Devote Sunday night to hand-writing notes to first time guests. The louder the internet clamor becomes on certain political & cultural issues, the less it needs my voice to join in. People prefer feedback that is painfully honest Read the full article…
In my early years of ministry I came across a preaching book by John Mason Stapleton called Preaching In Demonstration Of The Spirit And Power. Not the catchiest title, but it does come straight from I Corinthians 2:4. Anyway, in that book, Stapleton goes to great lengths to distinguish between telling about the biblical passage Read the full article…
So last Friday, Julie and I had second row seats at John Mellencamp’s concert at Ovens Auditorium. We had seen him back in 1999 at Blockbuster, er Verizon, er PNC Music Pavilion in north Charlotte. We thoroughly enjoyed that show and when we stumbled onto these extraordinary seats this year, we knew that proximity to Read the full article…
I rarely start a message with the bible. In the process of sermon design, I am much more likely to start with people’s lives and work from there to the bible. And if it’s rare that I start a message with the bible, it is even more unusual for me to start a message with Read the full article…
What does it mean that St. Paul was Jewish? How does the fact the he had memorized large portions of what we call the Old Testament influence the way he writes major sections of the New? In particular, how does that impact the heights he ascends in Romans 8? And what does all of it Read the full article…
