I have cancer. For many, that is an incredibly scary statement.  Cancer can lead to months and even years of treatment.  Some of the “cures” (radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery) are difficult to endure.  Patients often experience painful treatment, nausea, loss of weight and hair, removal of body parts, loss of...

I don’t preach candidates or political parties.  I tell no one (other than my family) who I am voting for—not because I’m ashamed of it but because I want the focus of my life and church to be on Jesus and His gospel rather than on national policy and candidates. ...

Southern Baptists, there is something we need to recognize, even if we don’t want to and we don’t like it. Right now, we don’t have the greatest reputation outside of our own circle. I’m not a critical outsider. I am a Southern Baptist. I’ve attended a Southern Baptist Church for...

I was disappointed by the Southern Baptist Convention voting once again that a church with women pastors was “not in friendly cooperation” with Southern Baptists.  The church in question this year (First Baptist of Alexandria, Virginia) has several pastors, including a female “Pastor for Women and Children” and a male...

I’m a pastor. Not a lawyer. Here’s what that means for me and how I interpret my calling.  I teach the Bible in an effort to make disciples of Jesus.  I want people to believe in Jesus, to know Jesus, to follow Jesus, and to live and love like Jesus....

Let’s fight. Or not. There are a thousand things to get mad about in today’s world, and the almost instantaneous and twenty-four news cycles and onslaughts of social media throw these things in our face constantly.  If we’re not careful and prayerful, these controversies ignite anger, division, and broken relationships...

There are many points of doctrine and church practice in which there is ample room for differences of interpretation and opinion.  I can articulate my opinion and others can explain their idea of what Scripture teaches, and we can depart as friends and coworkers for the cause of Christ, even...

This article first appeared in our weekly newsletter in 2019.  I’ve updated it for 2024. I had a good question posed to me this week. “What makes your church different than any other church?” I want to answer it carefully, for I never really like to compare our church to...

How far can a church go to house homeless people?  Should it be illegal? There’s a court case in Ohio that is both interesting and distressing.  The pastor of a church in a small town of about 8,600 people in Ohio had 18 criminal charges filed against him for violating...

This Sunday, January 21, 2024, is Sanctity of Life Sunday.  Because I preach through Bible books like I’m doing now with Proverbs, I don’t focus my preaching on the various “special Sundays” on denominational calendars.  There are simply too many special Sundays to cover, and we would simply go from...