Tag: Pastor

By micoots
05/02/2017 0

Don’t Waste the Sunday School Hour

It is appalling today how so little is known by teenagers about biblical doctrine in conservative churches. Many cannot define the doctrine of the Trinity. They don’t know the difference between justification and sanctification. They don’t know what the ordo salutis is. If our children grow up without knowing basic Christian doctrine, then we are failing them. Bland and generic non-denominational Sunday School literature will not suffice.

There is nothing particularly biblical about a Sunday S..

By micoots
04/02/2017 0

Indian Pastor Assaulted by Hindu Extremists

HYDERABAD, India (Morning Star News) – A week after a pastor fell into a coma following harassment by hard-line Hindus in southern India, a gang of Hindu extremists in the same state beat another pastor after he prayed for healing at the home of an elderly church member, family members said.

Police altered the statement of Gandham Padma Rao, 49, so that the 10 young men who assaulted him on Jan. 27 in Medipally village, Telangana state, were described only as drunken youths, not members of a Hi..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

You Don’t Find Community by Looking for It

You can learn a lot about a church from its website.

Not long ago I researched a church in another state, and I could tell it cares about community. From the small groups offered to the pictures of smiling people drinking coffee together, this congregation clearly works hard to make connections. After watching a few online interviews, it was obvious they value friendship.

Sadly, it wasn’t obvious they value Christ. I imagine they do. They’re a church, after all. But it wasn’t plain from anyth..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

A Unified America, Gullible Skeptics, & God Wants You to Get More Sleep

Your weekly installment of what we’ve been reading (and watching) around the web.

Articles of the Week

Caring for Refugees, J.D. Greear. Over the past week, the news has been dominated by the question of how our country—and the church—should best care for refugees. Pastor J.D.’s response points to several other useful resources, and shows what we, at the Summit, are doing to minister to refugees.

Don’t Be a Gullible Skeptic, Trevin Wax. Too many people in our current society are what Trevin c..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

Planting a Church? Plant a Teaching Hospital

That phrase – “teaching hospital” – jumped out at me during a conversation with Geoff Surratt, then Pastor of Church Planting at Saddleback Church. As we discussed the vision of Grace Hills Church over lunch, Geoff helped me put words to the burden I kept feeling to plant more than a church – to plant a multiplying movement of reproducing churches.

I believe in church planting. I believe that the local church is supposed to multiply itself, birthing daughter churches, and that this is not only ..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

A La Carte (February 3)

Every day I comb through hundreds of Kindle book deals, most of which are utter junk, looking for the few that may be of interest. Today’s Kindle deals include just a few titles, but you may find them interesting.

Leading Your Family in God’s Two Gardens
There is lots to ponder and apply in this article from J.D. Greear: “An inheritance is what you leave behind for future generations. So when a church thinks about what they are ‘leaving behind’ for their city, they shouldn’t be thinking of mini..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

What Is The Word Of Faith Movement?

What is the “word of faith” movement? Is it biblical?
Miracles in our Mouths?I remember hearing a pastor of a large megachurch say, “You’ve got a miracle in your mouth. You can speak things into being that are not yet.” When I heard it, it actually reminded me of a Bible verse where it says, “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm” (Psalm 33:9), but the “he” wasn’t a man, it was God. It’s similar to when “God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light” (Gen 1:3). W..

By micoots
03/02/2017 0

When Bible Translations Disappoint

There are no perfect translations. What we ought to seek is a good, consistent execution of a sound philosophy of translation. There is debate, of course, among Bible translators as to what that is but the ESV was adopted by many Reformed and evangelical folk because it promised to follow an “essentially literal” translation. In the latest revisions, however, it does not seem to be following that philosophy consistently.

Late modern Americans face a plethora of choices in English-language Bible..