Southern Baptist elites—entity heads & those who, with them, exert major leadership in the convention—continue to operate in ways that disappoint and dispirit grass-roots Southern Baptist church members and those … More
The post There Is No Peace appeared first on Founders Ministries.
“Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses. Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear. … More
The post How to Fire Your Pastor appeared first on Founders Ministries.
As I continue to do the rounds of podcasts and interviews for my new book, Surviving Religion 101, the same question keeps getting asked:
What can parents (and churches) do to help better prepare their kids for the intellectual challenges of college?
I…
I’ll never forget the fear I felt preaching to the “adults” that first time back in 1999. I was terrified at the thought of “wrongly dividing the word of truth” … More
The post Sermongate: Is It Still About Integrity? appeared first on Founders Ministries.
A couple of weeks ago, I watched with great interest how the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) would handle some particularly tough issues during its annual gathering in Nashville. Like any such gathering, there were things that were encouraging, and t…
“Timothy” is a composite character. He is twenty-six years old, has recently graduated from seminary, and has been in his first church for six months. He and his wife, Mary, … More
The post Be Courageous: Evangelical Courage to Cultivate Those You Have Been Called to Serve appeared first on Founders Ministries.
King David’s words describe the goodness and blessing of well-exercised authority: The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has … More
The post Elders Are Not Quarrelsome appeared first on Founders Ministries.
As a young man feeling the call of God to enter the pastorate, I was blessed with good role models who demonstrated that full-bodied work. They taught me the essence … More
The post The Symbiosis of Good Things appeared first on Founders Ministries.
As a young man feeling the call of God to enter the pastorate, I was blessed with good role models who demonstrated that full-bodied work. They taught me the essence … More
The post The Symbiosis of Good Things appeared first on Founders Ministries.
All reformation begins with the Word, because it is the Word that is empowered by God for the work that needs to be done[1]. I was asked to share what … More
The post Reformed by the Word: One Church’s Journey appeared first on Founders Ministries.
All reformation begins with the Word, because it is the Word that is empowered by God for the work that needs to be done[1]. I was asked to share what … More
The post Reformed by the Word: One Church’s Journey appeared first on Founders Ministries.
As is well known, the book of Proverbs is replete with references to humility. We shall not be able to review them all, so I propose to look a bit … More
The post Thoughts on Humility from the Book of Proverbs appeared first on Founders Ministries.
As is well known, the book of Proverbs is replete with references to humility. We shall not be able to review them all, so I propose to look a bit … More
The post Thoughts on Humility from the Book of Proverbs appeared first on Founders Ministries.
This issue of the Founders Journal initiates a look at chapter 26, “Of the Church.” We will cover in detail three of the 15 paragraphs, give a running summary of … More
The post Introduction: Humble Pastors, Reforming Churches, and Godly Cooperation appeared first on Founders Ministries.
This issue of the Founders Journal initiates a look at chapter 26, “Of the Church.” We will cover in detail three of the 15 paragraphs, give a running summary of … More
The post Introduction: Humble Pastors, Reforming Churches, and Godly Cooperation appeared first on Founders Ministries.
Christ intends for His churches to be led by men who meet certain qualifications. In his letters to Timothy and Titus, the apostle Paul writes very plainly about what the … More
The post Pastor-Theologians appeared first on Founders Ministries.
So, today I am headed to Indianapolis for the TGC Women’s Conference (April 9-11), and the TGC National Conference (April 12-14). So excited to be in-person again, talking to real people.
I am speaking three times across the two conferences, so h…
For the last couple of months I’ve been making my way through a blog series on spiritual abuse which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. You can see the prior installments here , here, here, and here.
Part of the goal of this series has been to lead up…
I’m continuing my blog series on spiritual abuse in the church which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. You can see the prior installments here , here, and here. Since spiritual abuse is not as easy to spot as other forms of abuse, I am working my way throu…
“All who gain power are afraid to lose it.”
So said Darth Sidious (aka, Chancellor Palpatine) in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. And despite being from the dark side, he was correct. The biggest motivator for those in power is often their f…
If you watched the Golden Globes the other night, you saw that Jason Sudeikis won best actor for his role as the lovable Ted Lasso in AppleTV’s new hit TV show. That win spurred a number of new articles about why America loved, and needed, this s…
I’ve been making my way through a new blog series on spiritual abuse in the church which I am calling “Bully Pulpit”. In the prior installment, I offered a definition of spiritual abuse:
Spiritual abuse, then, is when a spiritual leader—such as …
As noted in a prior post, I have begun a new blog series—called “Bully Pulpit”—on the growing problem of spiritual abuse in the church. Before we get too far down the road, we have to pause and define exactly what we mean by spiritual abuse.
We begin b…
Scut Farkus.
When it comes to movie bullies, perhaps he is one of the most famous. In the classic film A Christmas Story (1983), the red-headed Scut—wearing a coonskin cap and flanked by his shorter partner in crime, Grover Dill—would often torment you…
Looking back on 2020, it seemed like all news was bad news. We moved from impeachment to the coronavirus to the killing of George Floyd to the presidential election to multiple church leadership scandals and back to the coronavirus again.
But sometimes…
Bible Belt Ministry Our church assembles in a rural area on the outskirts of a military base—Fort Leonard Wood, MO. Our community is in the Bible belt, where Christianity is practiced nominally by numerous professing believers. Many have come to church, listened to a sermon, repeated a prayer during an altar call, and have left […]
Introduction Not long ago, I wrote the first part of this mini-series. In it, I defined what both a confession of faith and catechism is: A confession is a statement of what a group believes the Bible teaches on various topics in a succinct, orderly, and comprehensive manner. A catechism is a series of questions […]
“The exchange of one set of bureaucrats for another doth not a reformation make.” I first heard Timothy George, the founding Dean of Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, Alabama, make … More
The post The Southern Baptist Convention Should Be Led by Pastors appeared first on Founders Ministries.
Every preacher has been there. You have your chosen text before you, you’ve studied and determined what it is you will teach from the text. The question now is, how … More
The post Prayer Before Eloquence appeared first on Founders Ministries.
For those who love to talk about theology, a good head-scratching question can really be fun. It allows us to stay up late in deep conversations with our friends over the mysteries of God and his Word.
Indeed, Jesus was known for asking some pretty tou…
