Healthy churches are marked by engaging worship. Engaging worship is nearly always marked by excellent preaching. Good preaching comes in a myriad of forms in a multitude of settings. Don’t let anyone fool you: there is no one way to preach…
OPINION: At home in the 17th century
Seventeenth century Baptists would have known exactly what was happening when two Rowan County, N.C., state legislators recently proposed a resolution, affirmed by 11 other legislative colleagues, that declared that the United States Constitution does not “prohibit states or their…
LEADERSHIP LINK: Does your church need an administrator?
I sometimes recall with nostalgia that courageous country church that called me as its college-student pastor. This group of deeply committed Christians allowed me to gain valuable experience and also served to mentor me since many of them knew more…
OPINION: Returning to Schleitheim
In February 1527, an Anabaptist group known as the Swiss Brethren gathered together at Schleitheim, Switzerland, to help solidify and establish this small movement on the brink of disintegration. The movement had begun less than two years earlier one night…
OPINION: Creating contexts for conversion, part 2
How do we create communities which form the likeliest context for an unchurched person to embrace Jesus and his movement? While churches today often get tied up in many different things, this should be the question that drives them harder than…
VITAL SIGNS: There’s no excuse
Are you an excuse maker? When someone makes a compelling case for action or movement, are you prone to start your response with the phrase “Yes, but …”? Do you see yourself as an exception to most rules? Making excuses…
OPINION: A ragamuffin homecoming
Life is full of events which remind us how far we are, at times, from the peaceful kingdom promised to us by Jesus. For the last week, so many of us have been saddened by the bombing of the Boston…
OPINION: Living and deadly worship
In Living Theatre, we would each day approach the rehearsal putting yesterday’s discoveries to the test, ready to believe that the true play has once again escaped us. But the Deadly Theatre approaches the classics from the viewpoint that somewhere,…
TRENDING: ‘Virginia Baptist’ to ‘General Association’
Ten years ago, American prophet and all-time dean of church consultants Lyle Schaller wrote one of my favorite of his 96 books. From Geography to Affinity: How Congregations Can Learn From One Another was a prescient look at the fundamental…