You may have heard of the recent controversy that unfolded in the aftermath of a conference associated with the National Center for Family-Integrated Churches. Among the sessions at that conference was a panel discussion and in that discussion the speakers were asked for their views on Christian rap. The answers were not good and many…
A question I often receive is this one: “Can you give me some advice on writing a book review?” I’ll be the first to admit that I cannot tell you how to write an academic review or one you would want to submit to a journal. I became a book reviewer rather by trial and…
It began harmlessly enough—just a little bit of numbness in three toes. At first it was no more than an annoyance, but then the numbness spread to her foot and began to creep upward. Soon it was accompanied by fatigue, nausea, headaches. She visited a doctor and then a neurologist who promptly arranged a battery…
About a year ago, or maybe a little more, Paul Martin (the Senior Pastor at Grace Fellowship Church) went away for a couple of weeks and left me to preach. Because I prepare my sermons digitally, I was finding it increasingly silly to convert them into the older medium of paper. They say that “while…
Every year Oxford Dictionaries announces a Word of the Year. This is a word, or expression, that has attracted a great deal of interest that year. Throughout the year the Dictionary staff track words using all kinds of interesting means and in November they narrow in on a few for special consideration. A final selection…
A couple of days ago I began a short series on modesty. It is not my intention that this series will say everything about modesty. Rather, I am trying to corral our thoughts and lead them in a specific direction and I think that direction will become clear today. I acknowledge in advance that this…
Yesterday I began a short series of articles on the always-tricky subject of modesty. I’m sure this will not be the final word on the subject, and I cannot cover every aspect of it, but I do want to get us thinking and talking about modesty. At the very least I will give you something…
Modesty. It is one of those topics we have all discussed at one time or another. We have all heard a preacher or youth pastor talk about it. And somehow we rarely seem to be satisfied at the end of it all. Modesty, it turns out, is a difficult subject. I find modesty a fascinating…
Aileen (Tim’s wife) here! After Tim wrote 18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing With My Kids and 18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing With My Wife quite a few people got in touch to ask if he would round it out with an article by a wife for her husband. He hadn’t intended…
Last week I shared 18 Things I Will Not Regret Doing With My Kids, and the time I spent writing that article got me thinking about the fifteen years I’ve been married to Aileen (and the three years before that when we dated). I felt it was only right to think of another eighteen things,…
Apart from getting my teeth bashed in by a hockey stick and that wet-to-the-skin oh-why-did-I-wear-jeans hiking trip through Gatineau Park, it is one of my few vivid memories from eighth grade: Jeremy was, like me, a new student at the school that year. Jeremy, like all boys our age, was curious about female anatomy. So…
Like most parents, I have those moments where guilt and regret comes over me like a wave. I consider then how much of my parenting time has already passed by and how little remains. My oldest child, my son, is thirteen. He is already a teenager, just one year away from high school, just eight…
Of all the words coined in response to the realities of this digital world, of all the words recently added to the dictionary, humblebrag must be among the best. According to the Macmillan dictionary, a humblebrag is “a statement in which you pretend to be modest but which you are really using as a way…
When I began blogging through last week’s Strange Fire conference, I had no idea how big an impact the event would have. Even while attempting to transcribe John MacArthur’s opening address, I was not convinced I wanted to dedicate three days and eight or ten articles to it. But once I began to see and…
I never met my father’s father. He died several years before I was born and I knew him only as the mysterious “grandpa,” a tall and powerful figure in black and white photos and old newspaper clippings. But my mother’s father I knew well. He was “Bapa” to his grandchildren, a name bestowed upon him…
I spent a couple of days this week speaking at a conference at the Creation Museum—my first time visiting it. (Note: this article is dated October 2013.) Before I arrived I decided to put a little bit of thought into why I am a six-day creationist. I wanted to affirm in my own mind that…
Sometimes I wish we were all just a little simpler, a little bit closer to the extremes of black and white. It would be a lot easier if there were only good guys and bad guys, the fully orthodox and the outright heretic, with no overlap, no shades of gray, nothing in between. But we…
Last week I had the opportunity to participate with a group of pastors in a round-table discussion. The topic was corporate prayer (i.e. prayer meetings), and each of the pastors spoke of his church’s practice of prayer. It was a fascinating discussion and I thought it might be helpful to share a few of my…
We all know, we all love, we all quote, and at some point we all rely on Romans 8:28. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” It is a powerfully encouraging verse, a powerfully encouraging promise from God.…
It’s the elephant in the room, isn’t it? We can’t all be right and we can’t both be right. Sooner or later we have to have a discussion about charismatic (continuationist) theology and whether or not the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit remain in operation in the church today (or, if you prefer, about…