Author: Administrador

By Meredith Cook People tend to gravitate toward others who are most like them. For many adults, this means the people they spend the most time with are peers—people roughly the same age and who are experiencing the same stage of life. It isn’t bad that our natural tendency is to surround ourselves with those … Continue reading “Discipleship That Goes Beyond Peer Circles”

Ben White photo – Unsplash By Michael A. Rowe Before I retired last summer after more than four decades of full-time pastoral ministry, my wife Maggie and I faced many unknowns. Would we stay in our home or relocate? Could we afford to live on social security and our modest retirement account or would we … Continue reading “3 Things Young Pastors Need from Mentors”

Thiago Borges photo – Pexels By Aaron Earls Americans are now evenly split between the pro-life and pro-choice labels, after a 9-percentage-point jump in those calling themselves pro-life. The latest Marist poll finds 47 percent of Americans identify as pro-life and 47 percent identify as pro-choice. Just one month ago, however, Americans were more likely … Continue reading “Poll Finds “Dramatic and Sudden” Shift in America Toward Pro-Life Label”

By Mark Dance Building a culture of generosity in a church takes a lot of intentional effort. In my three decades of pastoral experience, I’ve found there are no real secrets or shortcuts to nurturing generosity. There are, however, a few helpful tips I’ve picked up along the way that I want to share with … Continue reading “5 Tips to Grow Generosity in Your Church”

Skitterphoto photo – Pexels By Drew Dyck “The Bible has a lot to say about self-control. In that great repository of wisdom called Proverbs, we’re told that it’s “better to have self-control than to conquer a city” (Prov. 16:32). I’ll admit that the city-conquering language feels a little weird to me (I’m more of a … Continue reading “Why Self-Control Is Actually the Path to Freedom”

By Michael Cooper Unfortunately, the topic of mental illness has a stigma attached to it—even within the church. Images of psych wards and straitjackets might come to mind for people who don’t struggle with mental issues. What’s more, it’s easy to quote “don’t worry about anything” and “cast your anxiety upon the Lord” when you’ve … Continue reading “4 Things Mental Illness Teaches Us”

Mahkeo photo – Unsplash By Aaron Wilson Have you ever wondered what first-time guests are thinking as they pull out of your church parking lot after the service? The company Faith Perceptions helps churches take the guesswork out of first impressions by deploying mystery guests to churches to help them see their services through the … Continue reading “Mystery Visit Reveals What Church Guests Are Thinking”

By Dan Hyun I believe good preaching can be art. In my theological tradition, the preparation and practice of preaching sometimes feel more like science. But I think we lose something if a sermon is primarily a position paper we could construct in a laboratory. This is not to take away from an exegetical and … Continue reading “6 Themes To Help Your Preaching Come Alive”

rawpixel.com photo – Pexels By Aaron Earls While Christians say they want to exude confidence in their conversations with people from other faiths, non-Christians don’t have the same hopes for their talks with Christians. A Barna study on evangelism found practicing Christians go into faith conversations with different expectations than do non-Christians and lapsed Christians … Continue reading “Tips From Non-Christians on Sharing Your Faith”

Will Graham – BGEA photo By Joy Allmond These days, William (“Will”) Franklin Graham IV works for the ministry began many decades ago by his famed evangelist grandfather. But he didn’t get his start in ministry working for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) as an evangelist and director for the Billy Graham Training Center … Continue reading “3 Things Local Church Ministry Taught Will Graham”