Fisher of Men

How many struggles of pastoral ministry can be traced to a lack of solid biblical training? It has never been easier to get a seminary or Bible college degree, yet graduates mistakenly assume that degree-in-hand means they are ready to shepherd the flock. Many seminaries have tried to fill a church-shaped void that they are not equipped nor commissioned to fill. Consider carefully the words of Al Mohler, the President of the nation’s largest seminary: I emphatically believe that the best and most proper place for the education and preparation of pastors is in the local church. We should be ashamed that churches fail miserably in their responsibility to train future pastors. Established pastors should be ashamed if they are not pouring themselves into the lives of young men whom God has cal...

Over the weekend, I did what many people who have been weighing in on the movie Noah had yet to even do: I saw the movie. And it was terrific. Here are four reasons why: First, it faithfully tells the biblical tale without skepticism or incredulity.  Yes, it takes artistic license where the Bible is silent, but that is to be expected.  But except for the Nephilim, it stays on biblical script – and to be fair, even biblical scholars are not exactly sure what was going on with them. Second, it tells the tale in a way that only $150 million in special effects, A-list actors such as Jennifer Connelly and Russell Crowe, and an Oscar-nominated director with the skill of Darren Aronofsky can. Third, it is appropriately dark.  Noah and the ark have almost become synonymous with chil...

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments for those opposing the government’s HHS Mandate that forces employers to subsidize insurance for contraceptives and abortifacients.  The family-based company, Hobby Lobby, is among those involved in this high-profile challenge to the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare).  In response to this, Slate.com posted an article on evangelical attitudes toward abortion. “Conservative evangelicals didn’t always care much about abortion or contraception,” claims Jamelle Bouie, a staff writer with Slate. “What’s fascinating is the extent to which, for conservative evangelicals, it’s new.”[i] What follows is a short survey of evangelical attitudes toward abortion since 1968, largely based on Jonathan Dudley’s 2011 book Broken Words: The A...

The church is sometimes accused of being bigoted, angry, hateful, arrogant, elitist, and hypocritical. This doesn’t describe the churches I have been a part of, and in fact most of the churches I know well are characterized by love, generosity, humility, and the pursuit of godliness. Where does the negative perspective come from? Why are Christians seen as mean? Are they just “haters?” Unfortunately, no. Churches sometimes get a bad rap because Christians, and often Christian leaders, are dogmatic in all issues, uncharitable in public interactions, and quick to pick a fight. Ron Edmonson recently put a label on it. Christians can be “mean.” How is it that a people of faith, a people who have experienced grace, be so graceless? I feel competent to speak into th...

Christianity has been called a “bloody religion.” Christians have built their faith, after all, on the bloody death of the crucified Jesus. We sing with gusto, “What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” And with the apostle Peter we confess that we have been ransomed “not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19). But it is possible for us to misunderstand the significance of Jesus’ blood and even speak of it in ways that subvert the teaching of Scripture. Roman Catholic doctrine undermines the sufficiency of Christ’s finished work by teaching that his blood is offered repeatedly in a Eucharistic sacrifice. And some Protestants make a similar mistake with the suppos...

Earlier this week I was playing cards with some locals at the cigar shop in town. I spend a lot of time in this place both studying and hanging out with people in the neighborhood. At the table with us was a young lady—college student studying music at the local university. We had a good conversation about the Millennial generation, and their lack of interest in the local church and even the Christian faith. We talked about what is that keeps Millennials distant from the church. She agreed with the current research that shows that they find the church to be irrelevant and insular, over-interested in politics, and under-interested in social justice. What can we do to bring them to the faith, or back to the local church? When she found out that our church, which is very diverse generationall...

Less than a month after releasing his controversial book, A Letter to My Congregation, pastor Ken Wilson of Vineyard Church Ann Arbor gave an interview explaining his recent change of view on what the Scriptures teach about sexuality. In short, Wilson no longer believes that the Scriptures condemn homosexuality. He is not alone. Last year Exodus International, a Christian ministry formerly dedicated to those who struggle with same-sex attraction, publicly apologized for their ministry and substantially changed their views and practices. The debate about what the Bible teaches on these issues is clearly here to stay. Tradition Isn’t Always Bad For the last two thousand years virtually all Christians everywhere have believed that God made men and women beautifully different by design, and th...

Ask any Christian parent what their dying wish would be, and they will tell you, “That my children will love and follow Jesus.” Unfortunately, many parents face the unbearable experience of watching their children leave the faith they grew up learning about every week in Sunday school and youth group. Things like frequent attendance at youth group, being involved in a small group, or even going on missions trips provide no guarantee that someone will continue in the faith. Indeed, I estimate that half of the students that went on the youth missions trip my senior year of high school are no longer following Jesus. But there some commonalities (which I’ve noticed in 20 years of experience in youth ministry) that young people who do keep following Jesus share. Just one qualification: what I w...

In many ways, the book of James has not had an easy journey into the New Testament canon. We have few references to it in the earliest stages; it was doubted by some church fathers, and, of course later, Martin Luther himself referred to it as “an epistle of straw.” However, we should be immensely grateful that God has preserved this book for us. Despite its detractors, the book of James provides essential theological balance for the key doctrinal debates in the church today. Several key contributions: 1. James reminds us that one can offer extended moral exhortations without being a “moralist.” In an effort to avoid the charge of “moralism,” many modern preachers hesitate to offer extended moral/ethical exhortations to their congregations. Indeed, sermons often focus on how the ...

“You’re a heretic.” That’s a powerful claim, one with the ability to destroy. And like all weapons of mass destruction, it should be used with extreme caution. A recent blog post highlighted 7 Heresies Inside the Church. As I read through the post, I noticed two things. Yes, the author correctly identified seven dangerous ideas that the church needs to watch closely today. But there isn’t a single heresy among them. I think that’s a problem. Calling something a heresy when it isn’t contributes to other serious problems for the church today. To see why, let’s first take a look at what a “heresy” is. Then we can consider some reasons why it’s dangerous to label something as a heresy when it’s not. What Is a Heresy? Defining exactly what constitutes a heresy is harder than it seems. Some thin...

We live in a time of the anti-hero. Too often, the good guys are the bad guys and vice versa. Celebrities are often held up as heroes, until we learn too much about them. But to see a true hero, look at the real St. Patrick, who has a day dedicated in his honor. Unfortunately, many people only observe his holiday, March 17, by drinking themselves silly, which is totally contrary to the spirit of the man who Christianized Ireland. In fact, Patrick shows what God can do through someone who is committed fully to Him. Thomas Cahill, author of the book, How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe, notes that Patrick and the Irish came at the moment of a cultural cliff-hanger and played a key role in h...

Not the Thing that Comes from Your Dryer Born in the Bible Belt and raised in an evangelical church, I didn’t know what Lent was until after I graduated from college. That was nearly ten years ago, and since that time I’ve seen an explosion of evangelical observation of Lent. I’ve seen that surge in the church where I pastor, without any promotion from me. I’ve seen the same on social media, going hardly more than two minutes without bumping into a post by a friend describing what they are doing, reading, or giving up for Lent.   Of course, my congregation and my circle of friends is a limited sample. But I don’t think we need a national survey to see that among evangelicals Lent is more widely observed than ever before. As the great theologian Bob Dylan once said, “You don’t need a w...