Lessons from the Birth of Our Baby Boy
Waiting for a baby is like waiting for the Lord Jesus to return. You never know the day or hour when he may come and if you are not ready it will catch you off guard. Sure enough, on Monday morning, August 2nd, Molly woke me with a familiar urgency in her voice. It was 12:35 AM and she told...
A Probing Question From My Dad, “What is keeping you from desiring God’s wisdom?”
In an recent email from my dad, he wrote: One of the most intriguing questions is: if God were to grant you whatever you asked, what would you request? We must remember that when Solomon made this request, he was just beginning his leadership role. He was still untested for the most part. He had no idea what conspiracies might...
7 Essential Ways I Balance Work and Family
As a leader and pastor, one of my greatest struggles to is balancing time between work and family. Everyday this is under attack as the demands of the urgent things in my life try to eclipse the important. In order to ensure that I am staying balanced, below I have listed 7 disciplines I maintain regularly. Ways I Am Maintaining...
Killing the “Me Monster,” Being Honest to God and other valuable links
August 4, 2018 Sometimes we need a few good things we can enjoy quickly over a cup of coffee and for less than $5. Five Under Five is a regular post of a few things I think you’ll enjoy that won’t cost you more than $5 and can help make the most of some of your downtime. This week’s Five Under Five: ...
The Search for a Biblical View of Counseling (A Helpful Article Review)
Dr. David E. Carlson wrote an intriguing article in the mid 70’s that was delivered at the Research in Mental Health and Religions Behavior Conference in 1976. It was title, "Jesus’ Style of Relating: The Search for a Biblical View of Counseling”. His goal for this article was to “Bridge the gap between carrying helping professions and dedicated to communicating...
Life Balance is a Myth
This is a guest post from Brian Davis Several years ago, I was seeing a counselor in an effort to work through a bevy of issues in my head, not the least of which was how to "balance my ministry, my home life, and everything else I had going on." My counselor's words shocked me: “The idea of a balance is...
“You Did What?” and Other Questions You Shouldn’t Ask When Counseling
As a pastor, I have the opportunity to do quite a bit of counseling. I get to sit with the people that I care about deeply and delve into the problems of their life. As I’ve been doing this more and more over the last 6 years, I’ve learned many valuable lessons. Most of my lessons were taught to...
Duke Student Refuses to Read Graphic Memoir by LGBTQ Author
Freshman year can be awkward enough, but Brian Grasso wasn't afraid of awkward. The summer reading list came out for Duke students months ago. It was an optional reading list designed to create a common experience between the over 1,750 incoming freshmen. "Fun Home" was on the list. Amazon explains this book as a "groundbreaking, bestselling graphic memoir." The author tells...
Top 5 Free Bible Study Tools I Use
My life mission is to help make God's Word applicable to life. People ask me all the time what resources I use to study the Bible. Just the other day someone asked what my top five free Bible study sites are. So, here are my top five free Bible study tools: ESV Study Bible (English Standard Version) The one resource I use the...
Avoiding What Must be Done
I’m pretty sure if you locked me in a room for the rest of my life I would never get bored. My mind goes about a-million-miles an hour, and I have a rare talent of visiting far-off dreams without ever leaving my seat. If my mind goes that crazy locked in a room, you can only imagine how restless...
3 Keys to Helping Someone Through Loss
This may sound a bit off, but consider this a pastoral confession: I enjoy being involved with people at their greatest point of loss. There is nothing more tragic than the loss of someone you love. Death is hard, no matter when it comes. As a pastor, I am often involved in helping people through the loss of their loved one,...
Cardboard Pizza Preaching: Why we like some preachers more than others
We all like pizza or different reasons. That is why the pizza industry can have so many sellers and still not saturate the market. Papa John's is for those who like fresh ingredients. Pizza Hut is for those who like a little zest with their grease. Dominos has the cheese proportions down perfectly. Papa Murphy's is for the "I want to feel like...
