As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“Effective immediately, we have dissolved our pastor search committee and ended our relationship with all candidates….We will take a short break from our pastor’s search as we pray together while continuing to pursue God’s plan for our church. We will also look for an interim pastor who will provide leadership and direction in the days ahead.” - BPNews
“Every week I see images of full churches and read about how God is moving in churches across the world. I see pictures of baptisms and crowds. I also hear the podcasts. I can’t possibly keep up with the best of the preaching out there. It’s good when I can rejoice in how God is using others. It’s dangerous if I begin to envy the ministries of others.” - Servants of Grace
This is an adaptation of a sermon I preached this past Sunday. Like many churches, ours struggles with feelings of “failure” because we aren’t a large church. I often preach a sermon like this every year or so to remind the congregation about biblical metrcis for understanding what a “healthy church” really is.
“Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, which employed Feltner as an adjunct professor before the allegations came to light, suspended him Wednesday… Feltner is senior pastor of Berean Baptist Church, a non-Southern Baptist congregation in Burnsville [MN].
New Barna Research: “Forty-seven percent of respondents with some connection to Christianity say they feel the Church ‘cannot answer their questions’ or spiritual doubts. According to the study, one in three young adults (32 percent) said ‘hypocrisy of religious people’ causes them to doubt things of a spiritual dimension.
Reposted from The Cripplegate
Here’s a glimpse into the sausage factory of expository preaching. A while back my commitment to consecutive exposition was acutely tested. I tackled the chapter every seminoid dreads from the day he graduates, namely Leviticus 15 (you know, the heart-warming one about emissions and discharges of various bodily fluids). The challenges of preaching this sticky wicket are manifold.
“He wrote me an eloquent letter in which he used his training in philosophy to wonder out loud if Christianity is merely a set of Jungian archetypes, a set of myth-making stories that echo something deep in the human psyche that somehow over evolutionary millennia we have found useful. …Here was my response.” - Mark Ward
“The church website explains the church’s mission further. ‘Our desire is to make Moscow a Christian town,’ it reads, ’ … through genuine cultural engagement that provides Christian leadership in the arts, in business, in education, in politics, and in literature.’” - RNS
“Here are five simple suggestions for keeping your church safe in this area” - SBC Voices
Discussion