Blog Articles and Resources for Pastors and Church Leaders

Paul's letter to the Colossians has been increasingly compelling for me as we find ourselves today in the midst of such strange and uniquely challenging times.

The Yale historian, Jaroslav Pelikan once said that regardless of what anyone may personally think or believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the most dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost 20 centuries. And it's pretty difficult to argue that point. You know our calendars, the, the very way and means by which we set and mark our days hinges on Jesus, his birth and his life.

If what your church or ministry is doing now is effective and changing lives, enjoy it while it lasts. Because what’s working now won’t work in the future. The message we preach must never change, but how we communicate it must change as the world changes. This may sound discouraging, but it’s true. If you don’t change, you won’t last. If you don’t adapt how you share the gospel, your effectiveness will likely lessen over time because the world is changing too fast. William Pollard said, “The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”

If you are ready for change, you are ready for growth. This mindset changes how you see problems. When you think about it, every innovation is really a solution to a problem. Problems aren’t things to be feared but opportunities to embrace

Everyone aches to be whole. We ache to be healed. We ache to be restored. Most of the time, though, we wouldn’t put it in those words. We just know we are broken because our child is addicted. We ache because the depression of our youth is now the depression of our golden years. We are stretched to the point of breaking because our career ambitions position us to commit to a pace we can’t sustain. Miscarriage, divorce, loneliness. In all of it, we ache. We ache for some way to walk through this life and not give up or give in.

As a young Christian, I often heard a parable described as “an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.” That’s not a bad description, but the parables are not just about heaven, they are about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God. They are about faithfulness in the present as much as they are about God’s promises for the future. They are about God’s reign, now and in the kingdom in its future fulness. They are about the Good News—the gospel—and none of them is to be understood apart from the gospel.

The Thompson® Chain-Reference® Bible is an excellent tool to engage with for Bible study and sermon preparation. For well over 100 years, professional clergy, lay pastors, and Bible teachers in many settings have profitably used its study systems to enrich their instruction. The TCR’s in-depth study system identifies the interconnectedness of God’s inspired Scripture as it links topics throughout the Bible. In this article, we’ll examine how this study system, and all the tools associated with it, save time in study and sermon preparation.

The pulpit can often be the loneliest space in the room. In their private lives, these seven pastors were isolated relationally. Somewhere along the way, they substituted friendship with counterfeit versions of community (likes, followers, and fans). But followers are a poor substitute for healthy, accountable, encouraging, loyal friends. Pastoral failure was a symptom. Isolation was the underlying disease.

It is impossible to remain the same when you think about or experience the glory of God because you will get a sense of your sin. That is why I object to prophetic ministry that is not accompanied by gospel preaching.

In the New Testament Everyday Bible Study Series , widely respected biblical scholar Scot McKnight combines interpretive insights with pastoral wisdom for all the books of the New Testament. Each volume provides: Original Meaning. Brief, precise...

A Letter from Pastor Shawn Johnson Hi friends, We recently polled the people in our church and asked them what they were struggling with most in life. Unsurprisingly, anxiety and depression were at the top of the list. The CDC currently says that...

Like time itself, certain ideas creep up on you and, before you know it, they have changed the way you think about everything else. That’s how it was for me with the resurrection of Jesus. Brought up to go to church, to sing the hymns and say the...

4 Encouragements for Pastors Navigating Racial Conversations Thoughts from Isaac Adams What can we say to encourage pastors who are dipping their toes into racial matters as they lead their congregations? We could ask why they’re just now dipping...

God and race is a massive subject and many of us have struggled with how to have relevant conversations on this topic that aren’t explosive. Data out from Pew Research reports over half of US adults say race relations are bad. When we as a...

When I was in graduate school, my wife Heidi and I — we had just gotten going, it was a seminary, and the summer was coming and we found out about an opportunity to go overseas and serve in a church for the whole summer. And we thought what a cool...

The Expository Bible Commentary (EBC) is a staple for students, teachers, and pastors worldwide. Here’s why: Comprehensive yet succinct Today, with commentaries on a single book of the Bible often extending into multiple volumes, the need for a...

The end of our story is a beautiful picture of a diverse group of people all worshiping together before God. This is where the church will end up one day. But this is not necessarily how the church looks today. In fact, odds are that if you walk into a random church, it will look more like one single tribe, tongue, and nation. Multiracial churches are not certainly the norm. 

In 2018, my church landed in the local LGBTQ+ press for hosting a conference of Christians who are gay or same-sex attracted and committed to the biblical sexual ethic. It was not good press. We were promoting Conversion Therapy 2.0, they wrote. We...