Current Issues
Small Churches Going Multisite [Podcast]
At what point should a small church consider becoming a multisite campus? Listen Now
For Those Who Are "Over" Church
I want to offer a few quick counter-considerations for the millennials (or anyone else) who might be over church or leaning that way. Read More
Fighting the Fallen Leader Epidemic: A Better Way to Find Leaders
Corrective measures cannot merely address the symptoms. They need to go at the root cause. But so often we’re asking the wrong questions and looking in the wrong direction. We need to not only consider our failing pastors, but also accepted church structures and our own selves as part of the problem. Read More
Five Essential Reasons for Christians to Gather in Public Worship
Here are five important reasons why it is essential that every Christian gather with other Christians in the same local church weekly to hear the preaching of God’s Word from the undershepherds of that congregation. Read More
Thinking Through Missions Partnerships: Four Criteria
As a pastor, I regularly receive requests for financial support from missionaries. With so many needs, and so many missionaries, and only limited finances, how can we decide whom to support? In an effort to be faithful in answering this question for our church, our pastors came up with four criteria to help us decide who we partner with for the purpose of advancing the gospel in missions. Read More
Church Leadership
6 Reasons You Should Say “Yes” When Asked to Lead in Your Church
As summer approaches, ministry leaders in many churches will spend time recruiting and training new leaders to serve in their church’s kids ministry, the youth ministry, and to lead groups and classes for adults. If you are approached and asked, here are six reasons you should say yes.... Read More
Pastoral Ministry
Four Reasons to Consider Calling a Pastor in His 50s
The average pastor in America is fifty-four years old, which is ten years older than what it was just 25 years ago. Yet, many pastors find themselves sitting by silent phones once they turn 50.
This means an unknown number of average-aged preachers await phone calls that never come, while search committees look to fill pulpits with younger pastors. Should this change? I think it should. As a pastor now in my 50s, I’ve considered at least four reasons churches should call as pastors men in their 50s. Read More
2 Ways To Look at the People in Your Church
It is a display of God’s wisdom that he binds us together in local church communities. We know it is a mark of his wisdom, yet sometimes it can feel so much like folly. Sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are sinful, who are selfish, who still have so far to go. In other words, sometimes we grow weary of being around people who are just like us. At times like these, we can benefit from a reminder of what God is doing in and through his people. Read More
Hurtful Sheep and Bullied Shepherds
The sad reality is that sometimes sheep become hurtful and bully the shepherd. Read More
Bible Exposition
Dick Lucas on Mark’s Gospel – Volume 2
Dick Lucas breaks open the second half of Mark's Gospel. Listen Now
Christianity and Culture
Does Sexual Purity Still Matter in the Church?
What if the problem with ‘purity’ is much deeper? What if the problem is the message itself? Read More
Influencing the Culture From the Bottom Up
Like an obnoxious weed, the people of God have sent roots out throughout the world, usually shaping history in a subversive way. Read More
Discipleship
Cut Off Your Hand, Tear Out Your Eye
Hard words are not harmful words—when they come from Jesus. Read More
Evangelism and Outreach
15 Reasons Our Churches Are Less Evangelistic Today
By almost any metric, the churches in our nation are much less evangelistic today than they were in the recent past. In my own denomination, we are reaching non-Christians only half as effectively as we were 50 years ago (we measure membership to annual baptisms). The trend is disturbing. Read More
The “E” Word: Why Many Avoid It, and How We Can Reimagine It
Part Two in a new series. Read More
Six Ways to Be Prepared
One of the ways you “honour Christ the Lord as holy” as a Christian is by “being prepared to make a defence [or a ‘reasoned statement’] to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). Preparation is also a key way to feel more confident and positive about sharing Jesus with those around you. So here are six ways to be prepared.... Read More
Evaluating Your Church's Outreach [Podcast]
What ways can you measure the impact your church is making? Read More
Religious Freedom
Trump’s Religious Liberty Order Doesn’t Answer Most Evangelicals’ Prayers
Prayer breakfast pledge to ‘totally destroy’ Johnson Amendment comes up shy; conscience exemptions from LGBT anti-discrimination rules missing. Read More
The FAQs: What You Should Know About Trump’s Executive Order on Religious Liberty
On Thursday, May 4, President Trump released his long-awaited executive order on “Promoting Free Speech and Religious Liberty.” Read More
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