“My farm was a little too high up for growing coffee.” Karen Blixen (1885-1962) begins the chapter “Hard Times” with a statement of surrender. This unyielding truth had brought a life both foreign and familiar, beautiful and dangerous, wearisome yet rewarding to a punctilious end. Blixen’s memoir Out of Africa (1937) does not wrap upContinue reading “Farewell to the Farm: A Personal Note”
Category Archives: Church
Why Expository Preaching, Again?
This Sunday our church dove back into 2 Samuel, picking up right where we’d left off in November. The return gave us a good opportunity to revisit a foundational question: Why expository preaching? Why do we preach chapter by chapter, verse by verse, through every word of books like 2 Samuel or Acts or 1Continue reading “Why Expository Preaching, Again?”
Church Relationships Don’t Come Easy–and Why That’s Okay
Shouldn’t church be easy? Shouldn’t I just click with the people in my church? Shouldn’t it be the most natural thing in the world for me to spend time with my brothers and sisters in Christ? …but what if it isn’t? Is something wrong with my church? Is something wrong with me? We look at our neighborhoodsContinue reading “Church Relationships Don’t Come Easy–and Why That’s Okay”
Where to Turn in a World of Competing Narratives
I was reading Psalm 73 this morning, and Asaph reminded me of Reason #372 why it is so important to be in church on Sunday mornings. He begins his Psalm bewildered by the conflict of what he believes to be true in his heart and what seems to be true in the culture: Truly GodContinue reading “Where to Turn in a World of Competing Narratives”
A Baptist Catechism for Kids
When I was growing up, there was this infomercial for a countertop appliance called the Showtime Rotisserie. I can remember the salesman showing the product’s many practical uses, and after putting a whole turkey or chicken or a salmon or a pineapple or whatever inside, he and the audience would repeat the catchphrase together: “Now…setContinue reading “A Baptist Catechism for Kids”
The Blessing of “And”
Preparing a new sermon on 2 Thessalonians last week, I carried a photocopy of the Greek text into the gym with me (as I often do). For about an hour, I couldn’t make it past the first two words of the letter: “Paul and…” 2 Thessalonians 1:1 And. Such a seemingly insignificant word. The ESVContinue reading “The Blessing of “And””
New Posts @ TGC and Southern Equip: ‘Chiasms’ and ‘Hope’
I’ve got a couple of articles up at The Gospel Coalition and Southern Seminary’s blog Southern Equip on two totally different topics, with two totally different tones. The first explores chiasm and symmetry in Scripture. The second shares personal testimony about my own struggles in the early years of ministry and the hope I foundContinue reading “New Posts @ TGC and Southern Equip: ‘Chiasms’ and ‘Hope’”
