Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders

The more people I talk to about the doctrine of the Holy Spirit the more I am reminded how much confusion there is regarding His work. Perhaps worse than mere ...

We may feel like health lessons from the pulpit cover a topic everyone can relate to—it seems like we’re all trying to pursue something other than the bodies we’ve been given. We may feel like sharing food and body messages could be helpful or even motivating. But many times, these messages fall flat, or worse, bring harm. Asking yourself these five questions before delivering a health-related message can help prevent harming other believers.

Is a kids Bible study that important?

Nineteenth-century evangelist D. L. Moody once said that if he could relive his life, he would devote his entire ministry to reaching children for God. A look at the statistics would tell us that Moody was right. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) found that 63% of people surveyed became a Christian between the ages of 4-14, with the median age being 11.

What Moody understood, and what we need to pay attention to today, is that involving kids in Bible study at the time they are most likely to make a decision to follow Jesus is the most important ministry our churches can have.

Small group Bible studies play an essential role in the life of any church. The idea is simple, it takes a large group of people (the church) and connects people within that large group to other members of the congregation where they can create deeper, more meaningful relationships. Find out 5 reasons your church should have a small group ministry.

As pastors, we pray publicly and privately, personally and professionally. We pray with our teams and staff members and pray for those we serve. Other people ask us to pray for them and want to know how they should pray. Prayer sustains us but can sometimes become just another part of our job. And if we lose the fire in our own prayer life, then we may limit our ability to teach others to pray.

Scripture makes it clear that the way we relate to God reveals the way we relate to others—and the way we relate to others often indicates how we will relate to God. In other words, how we relate is how we relate.

Although Lenten practices vary depending on denomination and congregation, it generally includes three primary areas of focus: Prayer, Fasting, and Giving.

We won’t often admit this, but we like being angry. We don’t like what caused the anger, to be sure; we just like thinking we’ve “got” something on someone. So-and-so did something wrong, sometimes horribly wrong, and anger offers us a sense of moral superiority.

That’s why we call it “righteous anger,” after all. It’s moral and good, we want to think.

But inconveniently, there’s this proverb that says, “You may believe you are doing right, but the Lord will judge your reasons” (Prov. 16:2 NCV).

The first study in The Jesus Bible Study Series, Beginnings, is designed to usher you through the first act of God’s story, which is revealed most fully in the opening two chapters of the book of Genesis. Later biblical authors also wrote about God’s creation and the purposes behind his work, so we will pull from those portions of Scripture as well as we go along.

Because God speaks to us through the Bible we can see the Bible as an agent God uses to communicate with us. In these scriptures God instructs and rules and determines and prescribes and orders and promises and shows the way for us. The Bible is a gift to us and is for us.

I have a strong conviction that as goes the marriage, so goes the family, and so goes the world. While a frail marriage can lead to heartache and brokenness that ripples into all those affected, a strong marriage can be the root of so much stability, strength, and healing. My wife, Jennie, and I wrote a 52-day devotional called The Marriage Devotional with this in our hearts and minds – to speak Jesus into every hear, home and marriage that would be willing to read.

Special Note to the Reader: The purpose of the Gospel of John is explicitly stated at the end of the Gospel (20:30–31). Because that passage is so important to understand how this Gospel works, we begin with it. The purpose is to enhance faith in both believers and to promote faith among those who are not yet believers. If we keep this in mind as we read the Gospel, we will read the Gospel as John wants us to.

These five daily devotions are based on Randy Frazee and Phil Collins' Bible study, The Abide Bible Course. will walk you through five innovative practices that will take you beyond ...

Worry. There’s no shortage of it in our society and throughout our daily lives, and for many it can feel inescapable. Instead of worry being an occasional encounter, we have ...

That’s four million people who woke up the next day wondering, “What do I do next?”

What’s even more interesting is that April was not an anomaly.  It follows a trend of the months before where millions and millions of people simply quit, walking away from their jobs. 

It’s awkward and even terrifying for parents to discuss their child’s sexuality. Yikes! You may be afraid you’ll give them ideas. News flash: God created us as sexual beings, and they already have ideas (plenty, actually). I would much rather you give them ideas than let their peers fill that void. Sexting is a modern-day reality.