I ought to show my cards right from the get go. I’m really not that big of a fan of church marketing. While I realize that “marketing” (though I’d rather use a different term) is, in some sense, inevitable if we want to be congregations that engage our communities, I generally don’t like the conclusions set forth. They usually appear to be consumerism wrapped in a Christian cloak. So when I heard this following scenario,...
“Hey Tanner, remind me of the ministry opportunities you have at your church again?” asked Andrew, who followed up his question with his warm, yet focused and expectant stare through his thin framed glasses. “Oh, well, the primary help I try to provide is in organizing and planning different outreach ministries that our church seeks to get involved in.” Andrew and I have grown to be closer in the later chapters of our seminary days,...
Although originally written in response to a prior event in the national spotlight and debate on homosexuality, this article seems apropos to share in light of the US Supreme Courts decision on the Defense of Marriage Act on Wednesday. In light of the On May 19, a member of the Biola Underground (an online forum for self-professed individuals of LGBT orientation who campaign against Biola University’s position on Scripture and homosexuality) submitted an “open letter” to Biola’s faculty...
Excessive student debt is a problem. A big problem. And a problem that shows no signs of reversing trend anytime soon. A recent article by Scott Cohn, a senior correspondent for CNBC, noted that the average 2011 college graduate was saddled with over twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. But this is not just an abstract problem for household balance sheets or global financial markets. It is a challenge to the church and those seeking qualifications...
Ministry isn’t easy. Those who serve, whether as pastors of churches, or who minister in other ways, can certainly resonate with that fact. And, it’s tough in different ways for different people. Although I’ve come to grow substantially in this area, for years, vulnerability was one of my most difficult hurdles. To share with another… perhaps even the person you are trying to counsel or minister to… your own faults, stories of your own hurts...
This week marks two years since a massive 7.0 earthquake surged through Haiti, leaving millions homeless and tens of thousands dead. Survivors could hardly breathe a sigh of relief as they faced disease, debris and aftershocks. The streets were soon lined with bodies. Refugees scrambled for clean water—a rarity even before the quake. Newly leveled ground gave way to tent cities, replete with shacks made of mere sheets and scraps from the aftermath. Many of...
*This is the second post in a series where the practice of street preaching is put under scrutiny. The inspiration for this series comes from a street preacher I recently encountered at the local DMV. In my last post, I argued that the form of the message matters and that most contemporary street preachers do not give messages with good form. The second lesson learned from the street preacher relates to the venue—the geographic location of...
Its 7:30 AM and I had just arrived at the dreaded DMV. I had arrived a half hour early in hopes that my time there would be cut in half as a result. As I took my place in line, everyone around me looked miserable and the scene was so depressing, so dreary, that a street preacher felt it a necessity to begin a 20 minute message about the upcoming judgment and the salvation possible...
“Train up a child in the way he should go, Even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6 I can remember with vivid reality the shock that hit me on August 10th, 2009. I was driving down a long, drab, and straight road, flying by orchards of apricot trees in the central valley of California, when I was listening to voice messages on my cell phone (I was using my...
The minister’s depression is a fascinating phenomenon. Though he’s the man who communes with God in private, sings of his praises from the pulpit, and counsels the flock through all of life’s difficulties, this same man is often the one who also wrestles with God in darkness, can barely muster the strength to preach, and often struggles to counsel his own soul in times of debilitating depression. Why is this so often the case? As...
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