When I was trained in evangelism, I was told to quote the exact words of the Bible and then let the Word of God do its work.  I was rebuked more than once for trying to put things into other words.  My words, I was told, had no power.  God’s Word saved people.I struggled to understand how my trainers viewed this.  What difference did it make which words I used, so long as they conveyed the truth a...  Read More

During my college years I was trained in the Evangelism Explosion program at a large midwestern church.  We went door to door and asked: “If you died tonight, and God asked ‘Why should I let you into My heaven?’, what would you say?”.  A series of simple questions followed, designed to avoid rabbit trails and to keep the person on the topic of getting to heaven.  If they wanted to go to heaven, yo...  Read More

I came out of Bible college angry and critical of a lot in evangelical churches – things I believed were misguided and not biblically-based that needed to be changed.  I believed that if we just based everything on the Bible, ministries would succeed and churches would grow.I was fueled and driven almost solely by ideals.  I was going to be true to God’s Word where others failed to be.  God’s Word...  Read More

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:…a time to break [things] down, and a time to build [things] up.                                                                                                     -- Ecclesiastes 3.1,3bWhen I graduated from college I was the typical “angry young man”.  I wasn’t outraged to the point of radicalism, but definitely angry at ...  Read More

In April 2016 I was in line at Dunkin Donuts.  The guy in front of me was a veteran in his 60’s, still pretty buff, wearing a fatigue jacket and a crewcut.  He and some friends were discussing Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign.  The high school kid behind the counter asked snarkily, “When was America EVER great???”  The vet responded:  "I'm sixty years old and I've been all around the wo...  Read More

…I remember when, in the NFL, they just laid the ball down in the end zone after a touchdown.  I don’t remember when Homer Jones spiked the football for the first time (I was only four) – but I do remember the first theatrical celebrations in the end zone:  Elmo Wright (high-stepping in the same place) and Billy “White Shoes” Johnson (hands in the air, wiggling his knees in and out).  I also remem...  Read More

It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.(Acts 6.2) The word “serve” in that verse is diakoneo – the same root as the word “deacon”, so many see in Acts 6 the birth of the office of deacon.  Jesus was crucified and rose again during the Passover feast when Jews from all over the empire had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.  Many who responded a few weeks later...  Read More

A question I receive often is about church membership.  If I am joined to Christ when I believe the gospel, isn’t that enough?  Why should I become a member of a church? Let’s say a man walks in off the street that none of us knows and says, “I believe in Jesus.  May I teach your 5th-6th grade Sunday school class?”  What would you think of our leadership if we said: “You’re a member of the body of...  Read More

In “The Sound of Music”, Maria and von Trapp perform a beautiful Austrian folk dance (the Ländler) on the porch outside the ball, and in a few shots you can see everyone in the ballroom doing the same dance, dipping and gliding together in harmonious movement to the music.  You can see the same phenomenon displayed in any period piece depicting ballroom dancing. That sort of dancing was not a matt...  Read More

If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds?  (1 Corinthians 14.23)The Christians at Corinth placed a high value on spirituality that was, or at least appeared to be, supernatural – like the gift of tongues.  Whether “speaking in tongues” was the ability to speak a human language you h...  Read More

Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies;Somebody calls you; you answer quite slowly – a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.Cellophane flowers of yellow and green, towering over your head;Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes and she’s gone.Lucy in the sky with diamonds…According to John Lennon, who penned the song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” was inspired b...  Read More

In writing last week’s blog (“Raised Hands”) I seem to have thrown a rock at a hornet’s nest.  So let me step back for one blog and lay out what my “pastor’s eyes” see and what I am working toward with my writing. Our church is a multi-generational church with people from different backgrounds.  Our historical base (when it comes to “worship”) sang traditional hymns, and our people valued reverenc...  Read More