Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders

If you’re like many of the people I pastor, you may be struggling with how to connect deeply and honestly with your faith. Maybe you’ve experienced not just a disappointment ...

One of my deepest recurring struggles as a pastor was getting my identity and vocation confused. My identity was ‘God’s child,’ but I related too much through my vocation as ...

Pastors are called to teach. “Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations,” Jesus commanded his disciples before ascending to heaven, “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Mt. 28:19-20) We bear the sacred call to do many things: care for souls, manage the church’s finances, maintain the building, complete denominational paperwork, and visit people in the hospital. While the importance of these tasks is undeniable, without teaching, the pastoral call is lost.

Whether you’re on a church staff, leading a small group, mentoring students, or
running point on the parking team, I think you’ve felt it too—that unmistakable joy that
shows up when you’re in the middle of ministry done with heart.

Growing up in the church in the ’80s and ’90s, I do not recall hearing a single mention of pornography from the pulpit, in youth group, or at youth retreats. ...

The Problem of Life: Waking Up to the Wonder We’ve Forgotten Claim your church kit here! Elizabeth Barrett Browning once wrote:“Earth’s crammed with heaven,And every common bush afire with God;But ...

In Boy Jesus, Joan Taylor provides us with that. Not ponderings, but expertly researched
historical and contextual details that help us make informed guesses about what Jesus’ childhood was like, how he interacted with his family, and how his community helped him prepare for his ministry.

Here are four things Boy Jesus helps us do to know Jesus better:

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Twelve Steps but don’t really know what they are. The coauthor of the Twelve Steps was a hopeless alcoholic named Bill Wilson who found recovery as the result of a Damascus Road–like spiritual experience in a hospital room where he was dying from alcoholism. From that day forward, Bill never drank again.

Every Christian today feels like an outsider in their own culture, and most don’t like it. To resolve that tension, they are tempted to conform to the culture, combat the culture, or cloister themselves from it. But what if we aren’t supposed to resolve the tension but live in it? What if Jesus wants us to be joyful outsiders and engage the culture?

How do we find peace in a world that feels overwhelming? For many, the struggle with anxiety is deeply personal, but the answer may be clearer than you think. J.I. ...

So as we stand in cold December, bodies and hearts leaning toward hope (because if there ever was a time to hope, something inside of us knows that now is it), and yet staring at a pile of bills or a pile of laundry or a pile of amazon boxes that all want to whisper to us: “your life would be better if you didn’t have _____” let us take a moment to receive (to absorb) that God is leading us to the same place He led David.

I’ve been fascinated by biblical prophecy all my life, and nothing encourages me more than God’s predictions about the future. But I don’t make many predictions myself. The Bible is infallible; I’m not. Yet I’m going to predict right now that reading this book will make you feel like the farmer I read about in Kentucky.

We don’t know his name—he hasn’t divulged it, nor the exact location of his farm. But we know what he found. 

Every time I enter a lecture hall at my university, I commence the class with the same two words: “Greetings, theologians!” In the chairs sit art, film, communications, psychology, business, ...

We all want to matter, we want to be valued, we want to make a difference. We want to have a purpose in life. I know that's true of me, and I'm sure it's true of you as well. But where do we find this?

Put yourself in the path of beauty. Make it a habit. This world is filled with plenty of sorrow, and one of the most healing ways we can respond to ...

“I’ve been through a lot, Nona. But this . . . this is a different kind of hurt.” I was catching up with a pastor friend of mine when he ...