Little Splash: When Your Kid Wants to be Baptized
5As a Baptist, I relish all forms of dunking. Submarines, donuts, and pretty much anything that is willing to get wet. But what does one do when a young child wants to be baptized? I have been spared this dilemma so far, but my own [...]
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Is Plain Nastiness Persecution? Ask Pastor Youcef Nadarkhani
Today I feel like a wimp. Some unbelievers God placed in my life for my sanctification were particularly nasty to me this week. They went out of their way to make my day miserable, my kids’ lives a little harder, and my wife upset. They [...]
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Start. [IGT Blogging, Pt 3]
This is the third installment of the Idiot’s Guide to Blogging series (of which I am eminently qualified as a bona fide blog ignoramus). Part One, How the A-Team Would Build Your Blog, was about how to assemble a team that can help you. Taking [...]
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Under the Whip: What Pastors Do the Other 167 Hours of the Week
A relative said to me, “It must be great to only have to work one hour a week on Sundays.” I replied, “Do you know what’s better? Olympic sprinters only have to work for 9.6 seconds or so, every four years!” Most congregants don’t realize [...]
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3 Guidelines for the Congregation in Worship
We’ve had our fun picking on the worship leader, but most of us in the pew also need some guidance on how to view the musical worship time in church. Bear in mind that everything we offer to the Lord is worship; from the preaching, [...]
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4 Guidelines for the Worship Leader
I use “worship leader” in the vernacular sense of the guy who leads the music. Of course, musical worship is only a smidgen of the worship that happens on Sunday. It’s one candle arrayed alongside the worship of preaching, fellowship, serving, giving, and parking far [...]
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Bless you! – Why I Like Preaching With a Cold
I hate preaching when I’m ill. I woke up this Sunday morning with protesting muscle aches, a raw throat, and a nasal cavity as congested as a LA freeway. Except that it’s the one time my otherwise whiny voice sounds stentorian, there is nothing good about [...]
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Respect the Word, Mute the Phone – Pet Pastoral Peeve #1
The ministry is not about the pastor. Ministry is about, in this order, Jesus, His Bride, and unbelievers. The pastor doesn’t feature. But, preachers are people too, and they tend to have certain parts of their calling that irk them. Mine is when someone in [...]
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