Apart from a few loners, everyone wants to belong. Children long to be chosen for a team. Teen-agers search for a group, occasionally choosing the wrong group, just so they can belong. Those of us who served on university campuses observed that students needed a group, or they suffered from an aloneness that affected their…
How much is enough when it comes to following God’s will? I remember as a teen-ager, feeling called by God to the ministry yet trying to rationalize in my own mind how I could follow that calling, yet still fulfill the personal plans I had for my life. That experience taught me that God has…
It was an interesting title for a conference, especially when most of the conferences these days are related to mega-churches. This one was named the “Ordinary Pastor’s Conference” and sponsored by my home church, Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, TX. The stated purpose was, “to encourage, instruct and bless the ordinary, average, vanilla flavored,…
I was fifteen years old, laying in a hospital bed with a broken second vertebra of my neck, when I first began to understand that God had a will for my life. According to the doctors, it was a miracle that I was alive. I reasoned that if God had spared my life, there must…
This is Pastor Appreciation Month. There was a time when Pastors were appreciated because of their title. They were called Reverend because they were revered. They were called Brother because they were loved. No more. Because of the abusive actions of a few, and the investigative desires of many, today’s pastors must prove themselves before…
Today is Canadian Thanksgiving Day giving thanks at the close of the harvest season. I invite you to join me today in giving thanks and praying to “the Lord of the harvest” (Luke 10:2) for the men and women who serve God in the spiritual harvest fields of Canada and especially for those with whom…
Have you ever been left behind? I remember a childhood experience when my father was leaving the house to attend a sporting event and not taking me with him. I almost always went with him to such events. This time someone else had offered him a ticket and there was no ticket for me, but…
The bumper sticker of a pick-up truck on a rural road testified to the driver’s intentions: “Due to the rising cost of ammo, do not expect a warning shot.” When you earn negative consequences, how many warnings do you think you deserve? Fortunately, for those like Paul’s readers in Colossae, teaching accompanied warning. “Him we…
It was my first semester as a seminary student and I had a new professor. How could this happen to me? In a faculty full of distinguished, tenured scholars, I had a rookie, teaching evangelism, no less. He had no notes. He just told one story after another and threw in a few sermon outlines….
An administrator said to me, “When you’re gone, the only thing you leave behind is what you’ve written.” My reply: “With all due respect sir, I disagree with you 100%. I’ve got books in the Library whose pages are turning yellow, and whose check-out record is empty. On the other hand, I’ve got former students…