A group of SBC leaders consulted with a prominent independent pastor. They were seeking advice on ways to reduce the number of young people leaving church after high school graduation. Reportedly, they estimated they were losing around 93% of their students while perceiving that the independents were losing only 73% of their young people. Can...
Understanding Our Times—Knowing What To Do And of the children of Issachar . . . had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do.(1 Chronicles 12:32) The men of Issachar were astute men who comprehended their day. They understood where Israel stood in history, how they had gotten there, and possessed the...
Incentives To Restoring Virtue In The Local Church Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, were “naked and not ashamed.” In this pristine environment there was no reason for them to be ashamed. They were innocent – their natures had not been warped by sin. The first couple was in a state of holy...
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” The popular slogan means as long as something is working—leave it alone! However, when it comes to the human heart, it’s not fixed until it is broken. “The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit”...
The Scandal of Lukewarm Spirituality The sternest of the seven letters written to the churches in Asia Minor was directed to the Laodiceans (Rev. 2-3). When God wrote a letter to the church at Philadelphia, He had nothing bad to say to them. When God wrote a letter to the Laodicean church, He had nothing good to say to them! Laodicea was neither good nor bad—not hot but not cold either. They weren’t…
My grandmother was an amazing cook and baker. She was able to make great-tasting food like no one on the face of the earth. Maybe this is just nostalgia, or maybe it is absolute fact. I’m not certain the good old days were as good as we make them to be, but there will always be room for nostalgic thoughts. What is sad about my grandmother’s cooking is when she passed away, so did many of her wonderful…