When God Interrupts Ministry

You find God's presence in surprising places.

The way pastors work, we easily confuse an outboard motor for the wind of the Spirit. We are God-called ...

Missionaries' Pressures

What problems do missionaries face? For what things do they need prayer? Cedric Johnson and David Penner surveyed 55 North American Protestant mission ...

Work Is Never Done

Despite his popularity, John Chrysostom sometimes became discouraged with the seeming deafness of his listeners as they failed to apply the truths he ...

Building for the Future

We fight for lost causes because we know that our defeat and dismay may be the preface for our successor's victory.

I Don't Do...

One of our students received an appointment from a bishop, and the student did not feel the placement exactly suited his abilities.

I overheard him complaining ...

Wasted Talents

You can have certain creaturely talents which are amazing, often. But if they are misdirected, not in praise to the Lord but in praise to oneself, or ...

Murphy's Church Laws

Murphy in the Pew

Next to the Law of Gravity, one of the most inescapable universal truths is undoubtedly Murphy's Law: "If anything can go wrong, ...

A Pastor is Critiqued

Quoted from Pastoral Life magazine: One Sunday morning a pastor got up in the pulpit and apologized for the Band-aid on his face. He said "I was ...

Who Will Save the Drowning?

I had an experience from which I will not soon recover. As many of you know, I am associated with the Dallas Cowboys. They graciously invited my wife ...

You're Forgiven Already!

Garrison Keillor spins another tale:

"Larry the Sad Boy ... was saved 12 times in the Lutheran church, an all-time record. Between 1953 and 1961 he threw ...