“Will you perform our wedding?” Few questions bring a greater sense of honor and anxiety wrapped into one. As a pastor for ten years, I’ve performed my share of weddings, and I still get a bit nervous. So if you’ve…
When I first became a pastor, I knew that performing weddings was part of the job. But nobody ever taught me how to do it in Bible college. You’d think that would be a requirement. So when a young couple…
There’s a lot of advice floating around today telling pastors how they should preach. Some of it is good, some not so good. But in all this advice, we can easily miss the best preaching tip ever. This is not…
I took two attempts to finish seminary. My first attempt was short-lived because I didn’t set myself up for success. In my second attempt, I graduated with honors. In my first attempt, I dropped out in the first semester because…
What does your ideal desk setup look like? Your environment affects your mood and productivity. I’ve found that I work best in a simple, clean environment with a lot of natural lighting. When my desk is a mess, my mind…
Look, if you are a pastor who preaches nearly every week, your job is hard! You are always under pressure to churn out another good sermon. You will carry that stress like a 50-pound boulder on your chest. That is why…
The word mission is not a biblical word, so we must define what we mean when we talk about a mission. The word mission comes from the Latin words mitto (to send) and missio (sending). So mission implies that someone…
Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, fake news, Enron, Barry Bonds, Lance Armstrong, Ted Haggard, and countless other examples prove that lies are a major problem on the front page of the news and in the church. Most people would agree that…
It’s disturbing how many of the pastors that I grew up idolizing have fallen. My early years in ministry were shaped by pastors like Perry Noble (alcohol abuse and divorce), Mark Driscoll (abuse of power), Rob Bell (heresy), and the…