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  • Better Ways to Frame Your Sermon

    What’s the Point? (Alternative Ways to Frame Your Sermon)

    As a Baptist, I’m plenty accustomed to hearing three-point sermons. As a Baptist preacher, I’m plenty accustomed to preparing and delivering them. But as time goes on and I (hopefully) grow in my ability as a preacher, I find myself trying to avoid the use of the word “point” and to replace it with alternatives…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    From time to time, probably every month or so, I like to share an example of a pastoral prayer that was prayed at Grace Fellowship Church. The pastoral prayer is a time for one of the pastors or elders to pray on behalf of the congregation and to intercede on their behalf. It’s a precious…

  • Parent Love and Grandparent Love

    Parent Love and Grandparent Love

    It’s probably a reflection of my age and stage of life that I find myself thinking more and more about grandparents and grandparenting. In as much as I can read the future, I’m not particularly close to being one myself, but I’m the kind of person who likes to be prepared—to think about future realities…

  • The Truth of The Scriptures: The Most Practical Thing You Can Give Your People

    This week’s blog post is sponsored by Southern Seminary, an institution that equips people for pastoral ministry, missions, and counseling in the truth that endures. J.T. English hears it all the time: “We live in a post-truth world.” That’s true, English says, but we have to resist the temptation to assume the church is a…

  • Grandfather grandchild

    Grandchildren Are the Crown of the Aged

    “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged.” This is one of those proverbs I’ve been meaning to explore for a long time. But finally, over the summer, I had time and opportunity to spend a couple of weeks pondering it and trying to figure it out. And as I did so, I found a few…

  • Charles Woodrow Faithful Mozambique

    Faithful: The Story of Dr. Charles Woodrow & Grace Missions Ministries

    For nearly thirty years, Charles Woodrow has been serving as a missionary-doctor in Nampula, Mozambique. (All the while he has also served as a conference founder, church planter, theology teacher, bookstore owner, and much more.) For a good part of that time, my church has been supporting him. Recently, on the occasion of the twentieth…

  • When My Children Grow Strong and I Grow Weak

    Gray Hair and a Righteous Life

    It has always been one of my favorite proverbs: “Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is gained in a righteous life.” It’s one that clashes hard with Western culture and its glorification of youth. But it’s one that is fully consistent with a biblical worldview and its emphasis on wisdom. The book of…

  • The Sofa Salesperson Who Did Everything Wrong

    What I wanted was a sofa. What I got was a tale of woe. As I stood in awkward silence, listening to her talk about everything but sofas, I realized she was illustrating a lesson I need to learn as much as she does. I mentioned a couple of days ago that I have been…

  • Good Days But Hard Times

    These Have Been Good Days, But Hard Times

    Not so well, actually, though I’m truly grateful you asked. I’m not sure if it’s pride or privacy that usually compels me to say “Fine” or “Good” when asked that question, but today I’ll just level with you. “Not so good.” These have been hard days—or maybe better, hard times lived upon lots of good…

  • On Preparing Your Hands for Church

    On Preparing Your Hands for Church

    Sometimes I almost prefer not to tell who I am quoting. Sometimes people see the name and either tune out altogether, or they respond so enthusiastically they fail to exercise due discernment. But in this case, this quote is so good and helpful that I wanted to share it with you. I will even tell…

  • Amazon

    The Power Over Christian Publishing We’ve Given To Amazon

    A few days from now, or maybe a few months, or even a year, Amazon will pull a book from its site. One day it will be there available for purchase with all the rest, and the next it will be gone. One day people will be able to order it and have it shipped…

  • Missing Elements in Our Discussions about Apostasy

    Missing Elements in Our Discussions about Apostasy

    For the past few weeks, apostasy has been a trending topic among Christians. Though the discussion has been spurred by the sad news of some well-known men revoking their Christian faith, the discussion is bringing about the positive effect of engaging a crucial but neglected subject. (Apostasy refers to people falling away from previously held…

  • Why Satan Is No Friend of the Family

    Over the past couple of weeks I’ve shared a few articles dealing with family from a Christian perspective. We have seen along the way that family plays a very important role in God’s plan for God’s world. He created the family so it’s his to define. And he created the family for two great reasons:…

  • How We Worshipped

    How We Worshipped One Sunday in August

    From time to time I like to share one of our worship services from Grace Fellowship Church. In that vein, here is how we worshiped on one August Sunday morning. This week’s cast of characters included Paul as service leader and preacher, Josh as lead worshiper, Gideon as our Scripture reader, and Steve as the…

  • God Created Family To Picture His Truth

    I’ve put together a little mini-series on family, and have shown first that God created family and second that God created family as a means of carrying out his will. In today’s article I want to show that God also created family to picture his truth. Here is what I mean: God uses family as…

  • God Created Family To Carry Out His Will

    God Created Family To Carry Out His Will

    In the last article on family I wanted to show that God created family and therefore it is his to define. Now, I need to address the “why” question: Why did God create the family? I will answer this in two ways through two articles. The first provides this answer: God created family to carry…

  • Keith Getty

    An Interview with Keith Getty

    I recently had the opportunity to ask Keith Getty a few questions about the church and hymnody and whatever else I wanted to talk about. I figured that’s an opportunity I ought to take. Here’s what I had to ask and what he had to say… What do you see as the “lay of the…

  • Family

    Where Did Family Come From?

    We are at an interesting and perhaps unprecedented time in history when our understanding of family is being confronted and our definition of family is being rewritten. The social norms of Western society and the laws of Canada are changing fast. Things that only a generation ago were considered inadvisable, immoral, or just plain evil…

  • Pastoral Prayer

    A Pastoral Prayer

    From time to time I like to share an example of a Pastoral prayer that was prayed during a Sunday morning service at Grace Fellowship Church. This one comes from pastor Paul Martin. Lord, it is true. We faint for your salvation, and long for your help, because sin has messed up our lives. Our…

  • bible

    When Christians Just Don’t Read the Bible

    A recent study sponsored by LifeWay Research and highlighted by Facts & Trends shares some unfortunate but unsurprising results: “A third of Americans who attend a Protestant church regularly (32%) say they read the Bible personally every day. Around a quarter (27%) say they read it a few times a week.” They divide the results…