Help for the Small-Church Pastor
In this “results” driven age of church growth seminars and attention grabbing methodology, it would seem that a small church pastorate might equate as failure in the eyes of many recent seminary graduates. However, as Steve Bierly helpfully points out in his short yet poignant work: Help for the Small-Church Pastor, even the smallest congregation can fulfill the biblical purpose for the local church and honor God in their ministry.
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Two-Faced Faith
Many, many people in North American evangelicalism are living a 2-Faced Faith: we act like we love Jesus Christ more than anything this world has to offer, but as soon as we walk out of the church building we check to see if the next horror movie is in Redbox or who won the VMA awards.
If you find yourself laughing at and enjoying violence among human beings – who are all sacred image-bearers of God – than you need to ask yourself if you really love the God you claim to know.
King David, the Psalmist, wrote, “The Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. (Psalm 11:5)
Violence and immorality always go hand-in-hand, and God hates both. If you have no check in your conscience or tinge of remorse, if you can freely enjoy violence, profanity, horror, and sexual immorality, then you need to question whether your know the God you claim to love.
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Chasing Love
Miley Cyrus tried every move imaginable to mankind in order to get someone to look… and she did. Heads turned. Heads rolled. And most heads shook, at first, with disgust, and then with deep sadness. Gone was the rather innocent girl, Hannah Montana, who drew massive crowds of mimicking pre-teen girls. Gone was the bright, happy smile. Gone was the calm, content, and loving picture of Billy Ray Cyrus with his sprawling family in tow. Gone…
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Invisible People
Once a week, my amazing husband watches the kids while I go out by myself for a few hours to run errands. I’m certainly blessed to have a husband who cares so much about me and enjoys helping with our kiddos.
Recently, on one of my excursions I decided to stop by our local Salvation Army. My goal was to get in and get out, and score a bunch of kid’s clothes for cheap. As I was perusing through old and dusty clothing, I heard right next to me, “Excuse me? Excuse me!”
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Death at Church
The beautiful sunshine of spring was gently cascading across the landscape as our little son, Hudson, and I drove across town to worship Christ with the Evangel church family at this year’s Good Friday service. We sang cheerily as we turned northward onto Telegraph road, just a couple miles south of our church campus.
Suddenly the ominous, startling sound of an ambulance rang through our eardrums. Hudson fearfully grasped for my hand as a large EMS vehicle raced past us at breakneck speed. I wondered what we might find up ahead, but I never imagined the scene would be so shocking…
