Church & Theology | TLG Christian News

6 Ways to Help your Children Love Being in Ministry (even during the holidays)

21/12/2016 0 Comment

The Christmas/New Year’s season is incredibly busy if you are a pastor or ministry leader. Not only are there special church programs and services, but December is also a full month for outreach, weddings, school events…and all while you are wrapping your mind around planning and casting vision for a new year.

It can be easy to put your family in the back seat—or at least on autopilot—as you prepare, preach, and work to focus forward.

Some people even go so far as to suggest that ministry and ..

Immanuel: When God the Son Became Like Us

19/12/2016 0 Comment

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Perhaps the most beautiful hymn in Scripture is not found in the Psalms, but in Paul’s letter to the Philippians:
Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus,
who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cro..

Growth Points 73: Preparing Gospel-Focused Christmas Messages

17/12/2016 0 Comment

With just eight days between now and Christmas, I’ve counted seven Christmas services yet remaining before I sit down for Christmas dinner with my family. It’s a blessing throughout the month of December to focus on Christ’s birth and what He means to us. And yet, it’s a challenge to keep every one of those services unique and effective for the gospel.

In this Growth Points video, I’d like to share a few thoughts that I hope will be helpful as you head into the final stretch of the Christmas se..

7 Tips for Effective Follow Up

15/12/2016 0 Comment

This past weekend—Saturday and Sunday evening—was our annual Christmas musical at Lancaster Baptist Church. The amount of work put into these projections is staggering—not just in the thousands of hours given by the choir, orchestra, and drama teams, but also the thousands of invitations given out all across our community in the weeks preceding the musical.

I think our church often enters this weekend a little exhausted. Yet, the exhaustion gives way to joy for all of us as we see people respon..

My 5 Favorite Books of 2016

09/12/2016 0 Comment

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For the last few years, I’ve posted a list of my five favorite books of the year. Only my 2015 list has survived, as the others were on my now-defunct personal site. There are a few reasons why I compile these lists. First, I love reading and I love to share what I’m reading. Second, I’m also always encouraged by others’ thoughts and their lists often help me pick out a few last books for my Christmas wish list. Third, I get a lot of books from publishers, and while I don’..

5 Christmas Gifts Every Christian Parent Can Give

08/12/2016 0 Comment

Every mom and dad knows that one of the best things about being a parent is giving to your children. Parents delight in sacrificing to meet their children’s needs and to bring them happiness.

That’s one of the reasons Christmas can be a stressful time of year for parents who are struggling financially. The best gifts you can give your children, however, are not tangible. Regardless of what wrapped presents you may or may not be able to give, here are five gifts every Christian parent can (and s..

7 Ways You Can Keep Christ in Christmas

01/12/2016 0 Comment

You’ve heard it (and maybe shared it): “Keep Christ in Christmas.”

It’s a great thought…but do you do it?

December can be such a busy month. Even busy with ministry. But sometimes in all the busyness of the season, we’re as guilty as the innkeeper of not making room for Jesus, even if our reasons are well intentioned.

How can you, throughout the month of December, not only keep your head above water but actually make this month a season of worship? Here are seven suggestions:

Attend every ch..

7 Ways to Actually Decompress on Your Day Off

28/11/2016 0 Comment

Have you ever gotten to the end of a “day off” and felt just as exhausted as you did at the beginning? Have you ever looked back over the day and wished for a do over?

God so kindly designed our lives to function best with one day out of seven as a day of rest. Although “the Sabbath” is not a New Testament requirement, time for rest is something God created us with a need for.

Many people, especially “Type A” leaders, struggle to take this time of rest to actually decompress mentally and emoti..

9 Recent Posts and Podcasts on the Trinity

24/11/2016 0 Comment

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After the Trinity hubbub this summer and the Trinity being the topic of the most recent annual meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society, a full storehouse of resources and articles has been produced. In particular, there’s been a lot of helpful clarification on the relationship between the Father and Son. Below is a list of my favorites written over the past six months or so, in no particular order. Also, it should not be assumed that I agree with every jot and tittl..

5 Practical Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving

23/11/2016 0 Comment

I love Thanksgiving for many reasons, but perhaps the greatest is that it helps us schedule a day to do what we should be doing every day of the year—give thanks.

Thanksgiving, of course, is more than a holiday—it should be a verb. So how, practically speaking, can we make this a day when we actually give thanks? Here are five suggestions:

Trust the sovereignty of God. I don’t know that I ever thought of trusting God as being a way to express thankfulness to Him until the year our son, Larry, ..