***Part 1 made the “awareness” case. Part 2 and this week give the other nine of ten essentials for reaching those who’ve been hurt or disillusioned by the Church. For a full version of this article see here. 7) Humility: As Jesus said, “Without me, you can do nothing” (John 15:5), and it’s at this point we should also enlist … Read More
Reaching Those Who’ve Been Hurt by the Church, Part 2 of 3
***Last week (Part 1) we made the “awareness” case. This week (Part 2) and next (Part 3) we get more practical, sharing the remaining nine of ten essentials for reaching those who’ve been hurt or disillusioned by the Church. For a full version of this article see here. 2) Empathy: It’s at this point that we, as believers, have a … Read More
Reaching Those Who’ve Been Hurt by the Church, Part 1 of 3
***Friends, this is an article I just prepared for Care Net’s network. I broke it down into three parts for the purposes of this blog. Spirituality wrongly understood or pursued is a major source of human misery and rebellion against God.[1] —Dallas Willard Last year, God gave me the fire to complete a book — and a handbook for discipleship … Read More
Finding Peace in a Global Pandemic
So much has happened these last few weeks and things keep changing every day! Praying for all of us to stay safe, flexible, and know how to navigate our responsibilities and callings in the coming days. The practical angst related to an incredulous lack of toilet paper aside, the more difficult quest for most of us is the search for serenity… Be … Read More
The Book is Live!
Hi Friends! I’m so excited to let you know that the Kindle eBook version of How I Became a Christian Despite the Church is finally live and available here! I hope to get the paperback version launched in the next 2-3 weeks. Before I do an official marketing campaign related to all this, however, I wanted you all to be … Read More
What I Learned from Megan Phelps-Roper
Although I’m sad that Megan doesn’t pray anymore, I get it given her upbringing, and I learned a ton from Unfollow: A Memoir of Loving and Leaving Westboro Baptist Church. Westboro Baptist…yeah, they’re the ones with the website godhatesfag.com—the ones that for years have held up vile signs in the name of God and even protested at military funerals. Megan, … Read More
Four Gospel-Centered & Non-Political Things Every Pastor Can Do to Decrease the Impact of Abortion
*This article is adapted and expanded from one I wrote for Care Net and the picture above (from late 2018) is of my grandson Emmett representing! Abortion is a global issue that now affects 40-50 million unborn children every year.[1] As a pastor, I’m with others who see this as one of, if not, the greatest moral atrocity of our … Read More
Should We Judge a Movement By Its Abuses?
“Now, it is undeniably true that some of the more fundamentalist forms of Christianity— Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox— can do serious psychological and emotional damage to people… It’s wrong for Christians (or Jews, Muslims, and any other religious believer) to be so defensive about attacks on our faith that we deny that people within the religion can use its teachings … Read More
Halt vs. Help, Part 2
Thanks so much for the wonderful feedback on the article last week. Below are just some of your great observations. For clarity, I’ve added a few words in brackets and put key ideas in bold: “I was… raised on the mission field… I find myself identifying more with the ‘help’ idea… I never thought of myself as part of a … Read More
Talkin’ Bout My Generation: Halt vs. Help
“Ok Boomer.” It’s certainly not a compliment and there’s more anger behind it than you’d think. “Ok boomer” is a growing fad—now on memes, t-shirts, etc.—among teens who are starting to push back against a certain type of older person. As one teen explained, “A boomer is really more of a type of personality, someone who is intolerant to new … Read More