A couple months ago I was informally asked to give my thoughts on how seminary professors can train their seminary students to lead in areas that are theologically and practically important for women. In other words, how can (male) pastors learn how to better shepherd the women in their congregations and to provide healthy and relevant guidance to their … More Training Young Pastors to Shepherd Women
There’s a lot of caring to be done in the community of faith. Spending a couple years as a pastor-principal at a serious Christian college reveals just how much sin, conflict, tension, hurt, and suffering exist even among God’s children. Enough to make sense of the cross. In the last three weeks of school I … More Caring Until Sunrise
The church of Jesus Christ in America today is afflicted with a terrible malady: the passivity of its men. Whether due to widespread spiritual lukewarmness, ignorance about the church’s mission, a general fear of responsibility, the malaise of false humility, a sense of aimlessness and incompetence, or the stiff-arming of adulthood, young men and men overall … More Every Man
What do you say when you know it’s the last thing you’ll say? How do you choose your words when you know that there won’t be another tomorrow to say the things that go unsaid today? We use so many words throughout life, many of them fairly careless and insubstantial, spoken out of the ease-inducing sense … More Last Words
This past Monday night a small group from the dorms came over to our place to spend some time together. They had asked me to share some of the dangers of life at the college. Before they came, I sat down in the living room to reflect, and wrote down nine dangers that come to … More Nine Temptations in Christian College Communities
Bob and Lynne Trout have been married for forty-seven years and have been missionaries for forty-three of those years (!). Bob currently serves as ABWE’s Executive Administrator for Spanish Speaking South America. He studied at Geneva College, Los Angeles Baptist Seminary, and Bob Jones University (D. Min. 1998). He met Lynne at Geneva College and they joined ABWE in … More Interview with Missionary Bob Trout
I recently preached a sermon from an Old Testament narrative passage. Along the way, I came across a helpful section of an article by Daniel Block entitled “Tell Me the Old, Old Story: Preaching the Message of Old Testament Narrative.”* Block attempts to bring clarity to the age-old question, “How does one preach from biblical … More Preaching Old Testament Narratives, and the Danger of the “Homiletical Hermeneutic”
It is surprisingly easy to lose Christ. Somehow, in the mix of schedules and priorities and programs and meetings and burdens and anxieties and responsibilities, the person we love and who so loves us gets lost. It’s ironic that the blanket of good things that covers and warms our lives also tends to suffocate our … More Losing Christ
There is an undercurrent of religious discontent in my generation that is no longer an undercurrent. It is now, and has been for some time, a flood. People are disillusioned with Christianity, hyper-aware of the slighest whiffs of hypocrisy and externalism, clamoring for (a hundred different definitions of) authenticity, and generally frustrated with the church, organized … More Do It As the Church
In co-teaching an adult Sunday School class in Proverbs for the past year, I’ve come to realize that the Hebrew sages had a deep and nuanced psychology. I realize that over the last several decades, “psychology” has become a buzzword in conservative Christian circles and a ten-letter curse word throughout the biblical counseling movement. The rise of … More The Psychology of the Sages
I’ve spent the last year adjusting to a leadership position where there are so many little things demanding attention and so many trivial topics clamoring for discussion that it’s frighteningly easy to neglect the things that matter most. I don’t yet know if most of life is like this. I anticipate that this temptation is present everywhere, … More The Things That Matter Most
Tonight began the first of many end-of-the-year goodbyes to some precious people in my life. These are people I love very dearly. I am and will be deeply saddened to see them leave. Over the past several years I have found myself often summarizing the Lord’s blessings on my life by saying that I am rich in … More Closer Than a Brother
It’s been an intense month of growth and a full week of ministry. Last Sunday I taught Proverbs 8:12-21 in our adult Sunday School class. On Monday I preached in chapel on Romans 8:32. On Tuesday and Thursday I substituted in the “Problems and Procedures” counseling class teaching on how to counsel believers wrestling with same-sex attraction. … More This Week and Beyond
The annual August Rush at The Master’s College continues this week as the incoming freshmen arrived on Saturday. My public responsibilities are lighter this week as others are spearheading our orientiation called WOW (Week of Welcome). So I have a bit of time to recap our leadership retreats this month. Resident Director Retreat — The Lord … More August Rush
Our life is full of transitions right now. At times we feel a bit like Doctor Doolittle’s Pushmi-Pullyu, though in the same breath I must say that we also feel uniquely blessed by the multiplicity of opportunities the Lord has given us. With everything going on, we would be grateful if you would pray that the Lord … More Starting and Finishing: How You Can Pray for Us
At 4:04pm I received an email from The Master’s Seminary announcing that Mildred Rosscup went home to be with the Lord today (or whatever “today” means when you’re with the Lord). Mildred was the precious wife of half-retired Bible Exposition Professor Jim Rosscup. She suffered greatly throughout her latter years, and Dr. Rosscup cared for … More Men at Best: Thoughts on the Death of Mildred Rosscup
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