Youth pastors long for ways to minimize and/or eliminate stress in their lives. They sincerely want to engage students, volunteers and parents in ministry; however, often they feel they are drowning under the stress they experience daily. Youth pastors need air pockets to provide fresh air so they can dive back down into ministry. Here […]
One of the most powerful memories I have of the Army involves standing in a chow line with other officers waiting for our enlisted soldiers to get their food. The reason we stood in line rather than going ahead of our soldiers related directly to the three M’s of leadership taught to us in our […]
In his late teens, Jonathan Edwards penned a number of resolutions regarding living a life to the glory of God. In one of those resolutions he stated, “Resolved, never to lose one moment of time; but improve it the most profitable way I possibly can.” As we enter a New Year, we need to set […]
The modern missionary movement began with the founding of the Baptist Mission Society in 1792. Envisioning the mission field as an unexplored mine, Andrew Fuller inquired as to who would go down into the mine. William Carey responded to the members of the Society, “I will go down if you will hold the rope.” The […]
Vocation. When most people think of the word, they think about their employment or job. Our common use of the word betrays its deeper meaning. Vocation comes from the Latin root vocatio, which means “calling.” Our vocation in life is actually our calling in life. Our vocation is to follow Jesus Christ as our Lord […]
Growing up, from 1981-86, I had the privilege of living in West Berlin, Germany, during the Cold War. While in Berlin, my family attended Berlin Baptist Church, an international church whose members came from England, Lebanon, Vietnam, Indonesia, Eastern Kentucky, Georgia, Germany and Cambodia. Being a part of such a diverse body of believers taught […]
My father is from Eastern Kentucky. Growing up, he did not know many people from ethnic backgrounds different from his Scots-Irish roots. The odds were stacked against Dad regarding whether he would become prejudiced toward people of color; however, his time in Vietnam turned the odds on their head. In Vietnam, Dad shared a tent […]