As I’ve mentioned before, I like to promote good movies that are also good movies.  I want a movie to be both enjoyable and to present a worthy theme.  I don’t necesarily expect a movie to be blatantly Christian, but I don’t want it to undermine Christian morality or to attack the...

I read a disturbing blog today about race and the church, and I’ve been thinking about it all day long.  Essentially, the blogger (Ed Stetzer) reminded me that churches are still far too segregated in many ways: Over 90% of churches in the United States are racially segregated, with 80% or more of the congregation comprised...

I read this poem last Sunday, and I had several requests for copies, so I thought I’d post it on my blog.  However, let me share with you a few disclaimers:  (1) I have been unable to find the author so I can’t give proper credit.  (2) Don’t take the...

I love a good movie.  But let’s be honest about it; seldom do we agree on the definition of “good.”  For some people, a good movie is set in the old west.  (Especially if it stars John Wayne!)  For my daughters, the best movies are musicals with love stories.  One of my...

Many years ago, a perceptive church member came up to me after my preaching and said, “Good message, Pastor, but what are we supposed to do?”  Apparently, I had proven my point but I did not give a very strong personal application.  Since that time, I always close my sermons with...

A candidate for president whom I otherwise respect said something this week that should cause all Americans–and especially all Christians–to stop and think seriously about our freedom of religion.  He said that communities should “have the right” to ban Muslim Mosques if they so choose.  And he was warmly applauded...

“Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he chose for his inheritance.”  (Psalm 33:12.  Part of my text for Sunday.) On July 4, 1831, the song we know today as “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was sung for the first time at a children’s Independence Day celebration at...

In my early years of ministry, I took 1 Timothy 4:12 as a verse written to me, “Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity.”  I’m now 53 years...

I’m an environmentalist. To be honest, those words aren’t often spoken by evangelical pastors.  Most of us tend to be conservatives, and environmentalism isn’t usually on the top of conservative agendas.  And sometimes, it’s for good reason.  Many of the things associated with the environmental movement (worship of “mother earth,” for example) are...