Black Christian/White Church

I’ve got to admit that I do miss the predominantly black church. The big choir, the animated sing/preaching, the dancing during praise, the soulful southern gospel style of music — almost everything. Yes, it is easier to go and be with people that also love those things, were brought up speaking the same kinda slang […]

Bastard III (Black History Month)

Cut off. That’s what black history month reminds me of. This isn’t an aim at anyone specifically, but generally speaking, that’s how I typically feel about black culture. That’s nothing new. I’ve felt that way since I was very young; way before I ever met and had any sort of relationship with anyone of a […]

Triggered: The Christian Outrage Culture

After watching the western church response to John MacArthur/Beth Moore, Kanye, then Kanye/Joel Osteen, and now Chick-fil-A I can confidently say that the reality is these folks get triggered just as easily as their liberal and millennial counterparts…they just get triggered over different things.

The Importance of Communication Cannot Be Over Communicated

We have all been there before. Someone (or perhaps even it is us) is trying to communicate something very important but the delivery of the message is conducted in such a way that it immediately causes the hearer to throw up walls, tune them out, or flat out reject the message. It doesn’t matter if what is being communicated is true, important, or eternally impacting…the delivery is simply abysmal and causing more harm than it is helping.

The Parable of the 2002 Mini Cooper: A Lesson On Getting Help

There once was a man who was in the market for a car that was really good on gas mileage, was cheap, and was small (he worked in a downtown area where parking was minimal). This man found a 2002 Mini Cooper with 56,000 miles on it for a darn good price. He took it […]

Be Quick to Speak and Slow to Listen…No…Wait!

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1:19-20 ESV For a very long time…too long really, I’ve gotten this scripture backward. Very backward. I was REALLY quick to speak and REALLY […]

Wrath: People God Hates

One of the most recognized charactersitics of God is His alignment with Love. That is His defining trait. God is Love. That’s comforting, isn’t it? God is Love. God is good. God is forgiving. God is merciful. God is generous. God restores. Yes and amen, God is all of those things and more. But, God […]

Be Bold in What You Stand For

I look back on opportunities I’ve had to speak up and make a difference with utter embarassment sometimes. Why didn’t I say that thing? Why didn’t I do something when I had the chance? How could I be such a coward? Honestly, it makes me sick to my stomache how pathetically weak my faith is […]

When Two Worlds Collide

I like documentaries. I think it is an interesting way to learn about things in an auditory/visual way that maybe you don’t get from reading. Especially if the documentary is chronicling events as they are unfolding on the spot rather than retracing long gone history. Some documentaries try to insert their own agenda into the […]

Doctrinal Sandcastles

American Churches, and more specifically, American Pastors have a growing theological problem. No longer the more vocal, and more publicly visible pastors standing on a theology built upon The Rock, but they are sliding further and further toward the beach and beginning to build their theology upon a foundation of sand. A foundation easily shifted by […]

Bumper Sticker Christianity

No doubt you’ve seen them. You’ve seen the cars with the “Christianese” catchphrase bumper stickers on them…or the “Jesus Fish” or the crosses….or even the bumper sticker for a local church plastered on a car…and the rare car that has all of the above plus some. And it also just so happens that the driver […]

Humility: The Churches Strength and Its Weakness

This last week I went through a humbling experience. It was brought to my attention by my mentor (and spiritual father…and pastor) that some of my antics on social media may have caused hurt to some close to me, as well as reminding me that as a pastor every action I take and every word […]

The Nearsighted Church: How to Get Our Telescope Back

At some point in history, someone (or someones) determined that they needed to find a better way to be able to see farther and with more clarity than what was physically possible with the naked human eye. It is still a mystery to this day as to exactly who invented it, but the first patent for […]

2016: A Series of Unfortunate Revelations

You know, around January 1 everybody put out a “Year in Review” blog or Facebook post or something out there in the social media ether discussing 2016. I certainly have my thoughts on 2016, but didn’t want to get washed over by the plethora of writings I’m sure hit the airwaves that day. Now that […]

The Gospel IS the Main Thing…and Here’s why

Recently a member of the Abolish Human Abortion (AHA) society put out a Facebook status that stated that the gospel was not the main thing. He argued that loving God and loving others was the main thing and that the gospel was secondary to these 2 things. This was also followed up by several leaders […]

How Shall We Die?

In 2 Kings chapter 7 we see an interesting story where the people of Israel are under siege by the Syrian army. Because of this siege the people of Israel were starving to death. They were helpless, hungry, and desperate. In fact, in chapter 6, we see that they are so desperate that people are literally […]

Minds Are Made Up. So where do we go from here?

This election season, unlike any other I’ve witnessed in my very short 16-year voting history, has been one of the most stressful and disheartening elections I have personally been through. We are still a good 2 weeks out from election day, but let’s not kid ourselves, people have made up their minds at this point […]

The Most Important Election EVER

I’m sure you’ve heard from several sources over the last several months that this election is possibly the most important election EVER. And I tend to agree…but not for the reasons that you may suspect. You see the typical arguments for why this is an important election range from SCOTUS appointments to further advancements of abortion […]

Exiled…

We live in the midst of a Christian cultural environment that has somehow bought the lie that we should disconnect ourselves from this world, that faith doesn’t mix with politics, and that Christians should just focus on religious stuff within the confines of the walls of our churches and homes, and ultimately leave the world […]

Whom shall I fear?

So your standard for how to vote in this election is Hillary. I get it. I really do. I used to have this same exact mindset as well. You’re going to vote for Trump (lesser of 2 evils) because you feel that Hillary is the greater threat to our freedoms and future. You’re going to […]

This little light of mine…

Matthew 5:14-16 NLT You are the light of the world–like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good […]

Remember that time…

I am a Christian. More specifically I am a Christian who tends to lean toward an optimistic view of the future rather than a nihilistic view. I believe that God is a victorious God whose gospel is ever increasing in victory around the world. And with this worldview in mind, I present to you my […]

Run to the Battle – 5 Important Points for Pastors Engaging the Culture | Guest Contributor Dr. Kevin Baird

“It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” | ‭‭II Samuel‬ ‭11:1‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ I recently attended a specially called meeting […]