Starting Seminary
I’m going to do it. I’ve been tossing around and praying about the idea since I graduated in 2005 – now I am officially a seminary student. If I stay on track, I’ll finish a Master of Biblical Studies in 2 years and an M.Div in an additional 4 years and if I have an...
Should A Pastor Make Big Changes The First Year At A Church – YES!
If you asked me before accepting the call to my first pastorate, should a pastor make big changes his first year at a church? My reply would have been a resounding, NO. Since then I’ve flipped flopped on that question. My current answer is different. Yes, a pastor should introduce big changes his first year (if...
A Bit of Good Advice
I was recently given a bit of advice which I immediately put into practice. It’s good advice, so I’m passing it on to you. At Cumberland Camp a couple weeks ago, during one of our adult Bible studies covering portraits of Christ, my childhood pastor mentioned something in passing that really stuck with me. His...
The Power of the Word
I’m currently at Cumberland Camp in the hills of Tennessee, enjoying a week-long retreat from the world with my home church. Mick is speaking every night this week, working through passages dealing with the topics of total depravity, justification, sanctification, and glorification (one for each night). As his wife, I get a lot of feedback...
Review of Francis Chan’s “Erasing Hell”
It was late February when every semi-conservative evangelical Christian who has an Internet connection said, “The guy said what about hell?!” The guy was Rob Bell, and his book Love Wins was as provocative as the promotional video made it seem, as most reviews (most thorough being here) did land on Bell being some sort of...
Advice for Bible Reading
Reading the Bible is crucial for our growth in Christ. If you’re languishing in your spiritual life, then chances are it’s due to malnourishment. The Scriptures teach us that they themselves are the only thing profitable for our growth in Christ. Since this is true, then it stands to reason that we as Christians should...
B90X
An average reader can read the entire Bible in 72 hours… that’s about 45 minutes per day for 90 days. On June 16, 2011, about 30 of us began the Bible in 90 days. Some are using a paper plan (see links below) and others are using youversion‘s reading plan – the app is available...
Scripture Memory With Your Spouse
One thing my wife Lynsey and I have been doing for about two years now is Scripture memory together. We try to do it every night, but it doesn’t always work out. We sit in our bed and memorize a passage together. The way we select passages is random. We have done a few verses...
One Reason I’m Not a Calvinist
I have heard Calvinists say that regeneration precedes faith. They would say that because our hearts are dead and unresponsive to God, what must happen is the Spirit must regenerate our hearts. That is, He gives us new hearts that love God and are responsive to God. Then, as an outflow of our new hearts...
Just Read One Verse.
If you struggle with beginning to read or study the Bible, I recently got some advice that could be helpful to you. One of the most fit trainers at the gym I go to whose name is Butch (yes, that’s really his name), told me, “I started out by committing to do just one push...
Shattered Presuppositions
In Bible study last night at our house, we were discussing a certain passage. A friend said that she kinda had her presuppositions altered a bit by our discussion of the text. Then she mentioned that maybe having presuppositions isn’t really a good thing to have when reading and studying the Bible. I mentioned this...
2 Things That Surprised Me When Studying Greek
I am about to finish my third semester of Greek. One was taken at Reformed Theological Seminary, and two were taken at SBTS. Particularly at SBTS, my professor made it a point to help us understand the nature of translation. In his doing so, I learned at least two things that really surprised me about...
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