Editors Note: The following excerpt is from Brian Croft’s chapter titled “Clear the Runway: Preparing Your Church for Revitalization” in A Guide to Church Revitalization. This new title from SBTS Press is available for download Monday, June 15, 2015. _____________________ It was a cold Wednesday evening when I walked into this struggling church. A young,…
In my early years of ministry I was involved in several church planting efforts. I had embraced the axiom, “It is easier to give birth than to raise the dead.” I still believe in church planting and am a passionate proponent of starting new churches. But if 80-85% of the churches in America are…
In my first year as a student at Southern Seminary, I took 48 credit hours in nine months: six classes in the fall semester, one class over J-term, six more classes in the spring semester, and three more in the month of June. (I would have taken even more if I could have, but that…
On a few occasions, I have addressed the topic of church leaders on social media. I obviously have a fascination with this form of communication. Indeed, I see it as one of the great modern-day vehicles for good or harm. In this post, I address eight trends related to church members who use social media,…
In our quest for a more simple spirituality it’s important to define the term. I’m writing from the belief that spirituality is the pursuit of God and the things of God, through Jesus Christ, by the power of the Holy Spirit in accordance with God’s self-revelation (that is, the Bible). The words of the…
If you want a church to be saturated with truth, then stay there and walk through life with them.
In 1835, two prominent English Baptists traveled to Newburyport, Massachusetts, to view the tomb of George Whitefield. The “grand itinerant” had died on Sept. 30, 1770, at the home of Jonathan Parsons, pastor of the town’s First Presbyterian Church. Whitefield had been interred two days later in a vault below what is now the center…
Good paintings tell stories. Think of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci. It tells the story of Jesus and his disciples sitting down for the final meal before the crucifixion. Jesus would drink the Passover cup before being sacrificed as the Passover lamb. The good news of Jesus is more than a story. But…
So you’re interested in overseas missions? You aren’t sure, but have a sneaking suspicion that God has called you to a life of serving him overseas? Do you have a strong desire to live outside of America? Would you like to spend your short days living in light of eternity? If any of these admirable…
It is not enough to go to God with broad generalizations about our sin. Our repentance should be specific, biblically named, and personally owned.
Christian parents must take special care in making wise decisions for their families. Whether we like it or not, our children are targeted as prime consumers in the media market. Without parental guidance, they are especially vulnerable, not only because they generally lack discernment but also because they are being exposed to media more than…
Led along the edge of a Libyan beach by Islamic State militants, 21 Egyptian Christians wearing the orange jumpsuits of prisoners received the white robes of martyrs. A gruesome video released in mid-February depicted their captors forcing the men to the ground and beheading them with swift, simultaneous strokes of the blade. The mass execution…
Ladies, how did you learn to ride a bike? Brush your teeth? Tie your shoes? Shave your legs? Apply make-up? Drive a car? Your answer to most of these questions, if not all, is someone taught you. From potty training, to writing papers, to planning for a wedding, we learn important lessons from someone else.…
To find the words that describe with accuracy the media hysterics involved with Indiana’s passing of a Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) may be impossible. The sanctimonious moral preening offered via social media from such figures as Apple’s Tim Cook and the historically amnesiatic Hillary Clinton are both laughable and inexcusable for their dedication to spreading flavor-of-the-moment…
We must view Muslims with charity, refusing to pigeonhole them. We live in a world of stereotypes, but love can overcome what political correctness can’t.
Many obstacles stand in the way of Muslims coming to faith in Jesus—theological confusion and the cost of conversion being two of the most daunting.
8 signs of fearful leadership | Thom Rainer
American evangelicals are, sometimes frantically, trying to adjust to an increasingly post-Christian America. We can no longer pretend that we are a “moral majority,” sharing “values” with the American mainstream. In a quest to differentiate themselves from the activism of previous generations, some younger evangelicals wish to retreat into a libertarian cultural isolationism, and some…
