A New Trend, A Troubling Reality: My Thoughts on the DINK Lifestyle Trend

Do you know what a DINK is? I didn't, not at least until a couple of weeks ago when I saw this video. DINK stands for Dual Income, No Kids. According to a Harris Poll only 43% of unmarried adults want to get married and of those only 28% said they want to have a …

Please Stop Calling People Scrooges and Grinches

I realize this post is coming at the tail end of the Christmas season but better late than never. Every year around this time those who do not exemplify the Christmas spirit, whatever that may mean to you, are often called a Scrooge or a Grinch. No doubt these are two of English literature's most …

Summer Reading List

Photo by Emily on Pexels.com Strange New World by Carl Trueman Trueman wrote one of the most talked-about books last year The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self and he has followed it up with a more accessible version with some new material in Strange New World. In this book he sets out to …

Lamenting Sin

This week has been rough, to say the least. First, on Sunday a report came out about numerous individuals who had their sins covered up by others causing heartache among those whom they abused. And then yesterday an 18-year-old man walked into an elementary school here in Texas killing 19 children and 2 adults, in …

Let the Church Multiply: Why We Plant Churches

Photo by PhotoMIX Company on Pexels.com In a few weeks I will be on a Zoom call with several other individuals from around the country as we learn and grow and figure out what it looks like to plant a church in a rural context. I have been a part of several church plants but …

God’s Timing > Our Timing

How do you plan things? How do you know that your plans are set in stone? You can put them on a calendar and set a reminder on your phone. You can block off dates so nothing comes between you and what you have planned. The problem with all of this is that it is …

The Christmas Mission: How the Incarnation Drives Missions

Photo by Burkay Canatar on Pexels.com Most everyone knows the story of the incarnation, that of Jesus being born in flesh and walking amongst his creation. But just in case you forgot or you've never heard of it let me remind you of what it is and why it is significant. Way back in Genesis …

Hope For Those In Exile

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Have you ever read the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1? If you have you may have or have not noticed something important in the genealogical account, the deportation of God's people to Babylon and out of Babylon (Matt: 1:11-12). This may seem like an odd thing to include in …

Buried to Be Raised Together: Why We Should Bring Back Graveyards as Part of Our Church Community

Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels.com I don't know if you noticed, but churches today do not have cemeteries next to the building in which a church gathers in worship. I understand that many new churches are unable to have a graveyard next to where they worship because they meet in a school, theater, or …

Reclamation Desertification: A Short Story of Being Broken and Revived in Ministry

Photo by Francesco Ungaro on Pexels.com If you are like me you may have tuned your ears to the mega podcast The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill as Mike Cosper carries you along a sea of broken testimonies and the hope of God in the midst of failure, confusion, and anguish. The podcast has …