All Posts (Page 36)
The Threefold Newness of Marriage
Weddings are celebrations of love, of commitment, and of hope for the future. But they are also a time to recognize and celebrate newness, even the newness of creation. When you attend a wedding you are witnessing three brand new things: First, you are witnessing the establishment of an entirely new family. Much is often said at weddings about parents not losing a son, but gaining a daughter, or not losing a daughter, but gaining a son. These are true…
What About Your Relatives?
In the New Testament, we find new believers confronting their own family first with the gospel. One writer calls this "oikos evangelism." The word "oikos" means "household" in the language of the New Testament. A model for reaching our families is found in the first encounter Andrew had with Jesus. Read what it motivated him to do: "He found first his own brother Simon [Peter], and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which translated means Christ). He brought…
Ethiopian Trip, May 2011
During May, 2011, Selamab Assefa and I took off for CCW’s second ministry trip to Ethiopia (click here for more about Steve’s and Selamab’s trip last fall). We were there for 2 ½ weeks, travelling and speaking at churches. May 13-16 After 20+ hours of travel, we walked out into Ethiopia’s capitol city, Addis Ababa—just in time to sleep a few hours and make a 3 ½ hour drive across dusty roads and beautiful African landscape to the town…
What Did George Muller Think About the Bible?
George Muller loved orphans. By the end of his life in the late 1800’s, he had housed over 10,000 in Bristol, England. Remarkably, throughout his ministry he made needs known only to God. Muller’s ultimate desire for destitute boys and girls was not just to provide shelter and food, though the children were cared for very well. When sharing his dreams for ministry to orphans, Muller said this: The chief and special end of the Institution will be to seek,…
From First Baptist Church to a House Church
The first church I pastored was a fairly traditional First Baptist Church (FBC). We met in a brick building. The Sunday morning gathering had the largest attendance, and the numbers dropped off significantly on Sunday evening and Wednesday. The sanctuary itself was typical, with pews arranged in rows and a stage at the front with a pulpit and choir loft. Our meetings had Scripture reading, prayers, singing, and preaching, as you might expect. When I arrived, there were 155 people…
Herbert Brown: The Anointed Stutterer
James Alexander Stewart was experiencing enormous success as an evangelist. By the age of 20, he was so sought after that he was preaching four or five times a day. He also filled his hours with evangelism in the streets and in homes. This was too much for a young man to handle alone. Stewart comments about his burden: I began to feel that I needed a co-evangelist to labor with me . . . My heart longed, also, above…
Trusting God Like Muller & Elliff: Our New Approach
A former seminary professor of mine lets me speak in his classes when I’m back on campus. He gives me about 10 minutes to discuss both my church and Christian Communicators Worldwide (CCW). I also give away CCW resources. I concluded my time with one particular class by asking if anyone had questions. Someone wondered how I was paid. At the time, my income included a small stipend per month from the church, support from friends and family, wages from…
What is Gained by Removing Members from Church Rolls?
This article provides motivation to do what God requires of us. Doug leads a church in Excelsior Springs, Missouri called Pisgah Baptist. I wish all churches with bloated rolls would follow Mt. Pisgah’s lead. May their tribe increase. Jim Elliff Recently we reached an important milestone for our congregation. Since my arrival as Pastor of Pisgah Baptist Church nearly five years ago, I’ve formally and informally preached toward a proper understanding of what it means to be the Body of…
Saved by Grace by Anthony Hoekema: A Critical Review
Anthony Hoekema (Th.D., Princeton Theological Seminary) taught Bible at Calvin College from 1956 to 1958 and systematic theology at Calvin Seminary from 1958 to 1979. The books he authored include The Four Major Cults, What about Tongue Speaking, and Holy Spirit Baptism. He died in 1988. Saved by Grace (Eerdmans, 1989) is the third and final in a series of theological studies. The first two books are The Bible and the Future (on eschatology) and Created in God’s Image (on…
A Brief Review of D.A. Carson’s A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers
D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation: Priorities from Paul and His Prayers. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1992, 230 pp. D. A. Carson is research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, Illinois). He is also the author of numerous books that have reliably served followers of Christ for several decades. This trend continues with A Call to Spiritual Reformation, a book in which the pastor’s heart of the author beats loudly as he…
A Critical Review of John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart
(This book review was revised on 03-30-10) Eldredge, John. Wild at Heart. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2001. (Spirituality/Christian living; 222 pages; hardcover; suggested retail price, $19.99) John Eldredge’s book Wild at Heart was recommended to me by several different Christians. Partly out of respect for them, and partly out of my pastoral sense of obligation to “Test all things; hold fast what is good,” I made the time to review what Charles R. Swindoll endorsed as, “the best, most insightful…
A Review of Krista Horning’s Just the Way I Am: God’s Good Design in Disability
Krista Horning was born with a rare genetic disorder called Apert Syndrome and has undergone over sixty surgeries in her lifetime. I first heard about her book, Just the Way I Am: God’s Good Design in Disability, from John Knight, the senior director of Desiring God Ministries, who writes at www.theworksofgod.com. Horning’s book is a glorious achievement and a demonstration of God’s grace in her life. I eagerly anticipated its arrival for two reasons: First, I have a daughter who…
Another Faithful Church Removes Deadbeat Members
At the end of a 4 year process, 1st Baptist Church, Gonzales, Louisiana, removed the final 250 people from the rolls of the church who do not attend. Now the remaining attendees are the real members of the church. Not every church will need to spend so long at the process, admittedly, but I commend the patience of this traditional SBC church for arriving at their goal without alienating the church itself. Only two voted against the final stroke of…
Book Review: A Thousand Miles of Miracle
Book by A. E. Glover, Christian Focus, 2000 They were locked in a tiny, bug-infested jail in inland China. The heat inside was suffocating, and the doors and windows were sealed tight by the guards. Outside their prison, crowds of people called for their death, rioting until late in the night. At daybreak, it began again. “Mie yang,” they shouted, “Destroy the foreigner!” Archie and Flora prayed for a miracle. It was 1900, the third year of worsening drought and famine…
Bound to the Brochure: Why I’m Not a Fan of Topics for Conferences
Perhaps the dilemma I’m expressing, one which has caused me untold agony, will not seem important to many. Yet, I must express myself. It has to do with the practice of binding speakers to set topics in conferences. Here’s the way it happens. A pastor (or set of leaders if it is a larger conference) determines who should speak at their next conference. Perhaps he really prays about it, but sometimes not. He jots a few speakers’ names down. Then…
By Faith Alone: The Conversion of Martin Luther
It was the moment he had been waiting for. His father was in the audience watching, as were his fellow monks. It was time for Martin to offer his first mass, and he was overwhelmed with the solemnity of the event. He led the congregation, saying, “We offer unto Thee, the living, the true, the eternal God.” Suddenly Martin froze. He couldn’t go on. He later wrote: “At these words I was utterly stupefied and terror-stricken. I thought to myself,…