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…
It’s often said that one of the most important aspects of leadership is simply showing up. Just be there, and people will follow. People like their leaders to be visible. This attests to the truism that leadership begins and ends with example. It would be difficult to imagine a leadership role where this is more…
Two and a half years ago, nearly halfway through the completion of my degree, my family was called to go and serve with the International Mission Board in Madagascar. It was an incredibly exciting time of looking ahead, filled with plans of executing what I had learned in the halls of The Southern Baptist Theological…
Biblical Womanhood is one of those topics that more often than not makes women squirm, cringe or maybe even gasp when they consider what women like me embrace as God’s good gift to us. I enjoy co-teaching a Seminary Wives Institute elective with Jodi Ware here at Southern Seminary. I was a bit surprised to…
Charles Spurgeon proves that you aren’t too busy to make disciples in the home.
Parenting is all about living by the principle of prepared spontaneity. You don’t really know what’s going to happen next. You don’t really know when you’ll have to enforce a command, intervene in an argument, confront a wrong, hold out for a better way, remind someone of a truth, call for forgiveness, lead someone to confession, point…
A few years ago, I received a Masters of Divinity from Southern Seminary. Recently, as I was looking over my class list and the required credit hours for my MDiv years, I thought about the classes that I enjoyed the most. Each of them were so good that I would take them again. Here are…
The most important thing you can do in your pursuit of purity is to get to know the living God Sexual Sin Our world is awash in sexual immorality. Whether it is adultery, pornography, fornication, or gay marriage it seems that our culture is not only experiencing, but also embracing the full buffet of sexual…
Ten years ago today, my wife and I walked out of a Russian orphanage with two little one year-old boys. Suddenly, for the first time, I was a father and she was a mother. Suddenly, little Maxim was “Benjamin Jacob Moore” and little Sergei was “Timothy Russell Moore.” Everything changed, for all of us, for…
Spiritual drought, though a persistent and unwelcome visitor, is not something with which we must constantly live. There are biblical means by which we can, by grace, put ourselves in the way of refreshment.
I am so thankful that I have continued to follow Jesus. There have certainly been trials and temptations, but there is no doubt in my life that it has been worth it. Keep the faith.
Editors’ Note: Are you interested in pursuing your seminary education? Did you know Southern has a fully online M.Div.? There are a variety of options available through Southern Seminary’s Global Campus. Consider that, along with these four priorities for your seminary education and contact Admissions to plan a visit. Seminary was exhausting. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoyed…
No alert reader in ministry has to go very far today to find some reference to urbanization, cities or urban missions. It’s a hot topic, and it should be. Cities have always been centers of power, culture, religion and wealth, but the majority of people around the globe lived away from urban hubs. That is…
The recent attacks in Paris on the offices of Charlie Hebdo have once again raised numerous questions about the nature of Islam. Most of them cluster around the issue of authenticity. Among the questions being debated and discussed are: What versions or expressions of Islam are most faithful to the sources? To what extent do…
If marriage is a picture of Christ and his love for his church, then much more is at stake than my happiness.
Baptists in colonial America learned what it meant to “love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:44). They experienced various kinds of persecution because they rejected infant baptism and the authority of the state to coerce in matters of religious duty. Many Baptists refused to pay taxes imposed to support…
Editors note: Read also part 1 and part 2 of this series Participate In Ephesians 4, Paul tells us that God gave to the church, among other things, “shepherds and teachers.” Shepherds and teachers is simply another way of saying “pastors.” Paul is saying that your pastor is actually a gift from God. He’s…
According to the New Testament, persecution occurs in various forms — from beatings (Acts 5:40), stonings (Acts 7), and imprisonment (Acts 16) to insults (Matthew 5:11), slander (Acts 14:2), and lies (Luke 26:59). The New Testament does not define persecution by the kind of action taken against Christians. Rather, the New Testament defines persecution…
