Posts from July 2025
Why Not Skip Church Meetings?
More evangelicals skip church meetings than attend them. That’s a fact . . . an embarrassing one. One leader claims even the FBI could not find many of them. Some churches have decided to take action to recover the inactive only to find that their church rolls were filled with people who never intend to come again, moved to other states, or died. I once removed 700 people from a church when I first became its pastor—people who simply did…
Praise Luck? : A Letter From Jim
Dear CCW family, Joni Eareckson Tada is one of the most gracious and effective Christians in the world. She has lived with the results of a diving accident that broke her neck during her teen years. At 76, she continues to radiate Christ to a listening world. Joni is known by millions of Christians through her books, radio program, and conference speaking. Once my brother asked Joni how she made it through the difficult battle with her paraplegia. I later…
Who Sends Missionaries?
Who sent out Paul and Barnabas on the first missionary journey?* You might say that it was the church in Antioch. But to be precise, the correct answer is the Holy Spirit: “So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit . . . ” (Acts 13:4a). However, Acts 13:3 says the church “sent them off,” but that does not mean the church was ultimately responsible for commissioning and sending out these two. New Testament scholar David G. Peterson explains. [T]he…
This Mystery is Profound: Why Are You Married?
Perhaps you have never thought of marriage as a mystery, even though you might sometimes make humorous (or not so humorous) jabs about not being able to understand your spouse. “I’ll never understand you!” is not an uncommon phrase in most homes. But marriage itself is not a mystery, even if you think your spouse is. The institution itself is as common as a potato. After all, since time on earth began, people have been “marrying and giving in marriage.” Even…
NEW BOOK! — The Most Powerful Words: A Primer on the Public Reading of Scripture
To order (or read) this 85 page book, click here. From the back cover: If you have a Bible in your language, you have the most powerful words in the history of the world — God’s words — at your disposal. What are we to do with these words, especially when gathered with other believers? Paul told Timothy, “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Timothy 4:13). But how is this practice beneficial to those…
Childhood Conversion
A woman came to humorist Will Rogers, saying, “I struggle with this problem. Every time I look at myself in the mirror, I’m proud.” He said, “Ma’am, that’s not pride, that’s a mistake!” Now I know that you are proud of your children, but you have never been as proud of a child as a woman I met who claimed that her five year old daughter had never sinned! She was serious. I realize that this woman was not doctrinally…
Providence in Romania
After ministering just a few days in Romania in 1985 when the Iron Curtain was still up, I received a call that my mother was dying in a hospital room in Oklahoma City. “We think she is holding on until you get here,” my brother said. It took two days to leave. It was hard enough to get into Romania at Oradea a few days earlier. At the checkpoint, the border guards asked if we had “any guns, drugs, pornography…
No Excuses: Moving from Unbelief to Faith in Christ
Believing the truth about Jesus as announced in the gospel and living under his authority is not optional. At the heart of the Christian message is the declaration that God raised Jesus from the dead and exalted him as his king over all creation. Therefore “he commands all people everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30-31). Perhaps you have heard the gospel before. But you have not yet decided to trust in and follow Christ. What can you do? First, I recommend…
Thirty-five Questions for Maturing a Christian Marriage
The following questions are not intended for short answers such as a mere “yes”, but are a means to meaningful discussion between a man and a woman who have vowed to love each other “until death do us part.” Take your time to talk them over. Let the conversation flow. You may answer these questions in any order you wish, or all at one time. Two rules apply: First, be painfully honest. Nothing much has happened to improve marriages without…
Slavery to the Fear of Death
This fear rests over mankind like a heavy wet blanket. It fills the lungs of man with its acrid particles; coats the landscape. Regardless of the bravado of some, it is a dreadful enemy, striking every man, woman, boy or girl. Industries are built upon it. Depression arises from it like a mist. The entertaiment world levitates its viewers from it, then plunges them into it again because it remains the greatest of all shocks. We all will die and…