Every seven days a rebirthed humanity, inflamed with a shared Spirit, gathers around a common table to hear the true story of the world. Church isn’t merely steeples and Sunday School classes, pulpits and pews, praise bands and bulletins. The church is a risen and rising humanity of ex-corpses and ex-slaves testifying to the Messianic … More Ode to the Church
In a fallen world, life is not worth living without convictions. If such things as evil, lies, and suffering are not mere illusions — not just the darker side of our social constructs — then evil must be fought, lies unmasked, and suffering eased. If such things exist at all, and especially if they flourish, then we … More Assumptions vs. Convictions
This is the final installment of a four-part series about church planting teams working among unreached tribes. Former 20-year tribal missionary Brad Buser (Papua New Guinea) shared these twenty practical tips with his Cross-Cultural Church Planting class at The Master’s College in 2004. Here are Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. 16. You’re not asked, … More Church-Planting among the Unreached: Gritty Wisdom from Brad Buser (Part 4)
This is Part 3 of pioneer missionary Brad Buser’s invaluable lecture about relationships between missionary partners doing hardcore church-planting among the unreached. Brad and his family spent twenty years among the unreached Iteri tribe in Papua New Guinea, and his wisdom is at once gritty and golden. Be sure to read Part 1 and Part 2, … More Church-Planting among the Unreached: Gritty Wisdom from Brad Buser (Part 3)
Brad Buser and his family spent twenty years among the unreached Iteri tribe in Papua New Guinea. They learned the language, translated the New Testament, planted a church, and trained indigenous elders before leaving with their work accomplished. Here are points 6-10 of his course lecture entitled “Ministry Team Startup Talk.” Part 1 contains points 1-5. … More Church-Planting among the Unreached: Gritty Wisdom from Brad Buser (Part 2)
Listen to people with scars. That’s become a motto of mine. Brad Buser has scars. In processing some old files recently, I came across one of his handouts from a class on Cross-Cultural Church Planting at The Master’s College around 2004. I never took the course, but Brad and his teaching were so well received by the students … More Church-Planting among the Unreached: Gritty Wisdom from Brad Buser (Part 1)
On Saturday morning 61 students from Boyce College headed out to the Jefferson Street Baptist Center in downtown Louisville to engage the homeless, serve the center, and learn more of the gospel. This homeless shelter has roots reaching back to 1888 and the post-conversion ministry of former riverboat gambler Steve Holcombe. It’s now run by a Southern Seminary … More Homeless, Human, and the Breaking of the Dawn
My Good Friend, At many points in our academic journey together, we will meet surprises, obstacles, setbacks, and disappointments. Some will be merely annoying. Others will be devastating. We will be overwhelmed, overworked, and overworried. We will theorize about “balancing life” and will do our best, but such balance will remain an ideal, a mystery, … More See You at the Top
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
In Malachi 1:11 God explains the reason why He is so sternly rebuking His people for their hypocritical, self-deceived, God-demeaning worship: “For from the rising of the sun to its setting My name will be great among the nations.” God is not talking about time. He is talking about location. God is not declaring that … More From the Rising of the Sun to Its Setting
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
Shortly after Saul was killed on Mount Gilboa, David was made king and immediately began to establish his kingdom (1 Chronicles 11:1-8). The Chronicler then records, “David became greater and greater, for the LORD of hosts was with him” (11:9). The first immediate evidence given to demonstrate how God blessed and supported David is the mass of trained, committed, fierce, … More Valiant Men
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
With my $50 gift card to the Shepherds’ Conference bookstore, I purchased (among other books) Give Me This Mountain by Helen Roseveare, first published in 1966. After reading it over the weekend, it feels a bit inappropriate to have gotten it for free. Roseveare was a medical missionary to the northeastern province of the Belgian Congo … More Give Me This Mountain
I just returned from the 2008 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors in Minneapolis. The title of the conference was “The Pastor as Father and Son.” My dad graciously paid my way and we enjoyed three intense days of biblical preaching, singing, and fellowship. D. A. Carson was the keynote speaker and spoke three times on biblical themes of fatherhood and … More 2008 Bethlehem Conference for Pastors: Greg Livingstone
One week ago today I attended a very insightful Q&A session with John MacArthur, James MacDonald, and David Wells at The Master’s College’s annual Truth & Life Conference. I brought my laptop and took detailed notes, so I’ll try to give you my best paraphrase of the best answers. The questions are in bold. When … More Q & A at the Truth & Life Conference
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