Today we began our last thirty days in Southern California — our last month at The Master’s College, Student Life, Placerita Baptist Church, and Oak Manor. My last day of work is July 1, and the big truck will be pulling out of the lot that same weekend, destined for Louisville, Southern Seminary, and the beginning of the … More The Hills Are Beautiful
“Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.” — Proverbs 11:28 Very few well-taught believers would admit that we trust in our possessions, even in the prosperous West. We have money, but we don’t love money. We use our possessions, but we don’t worship our possessions. We … More Trusting in Our Riches
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
Mother’s Day is a travesty. Like setting aside one single solitary day to memorialize our fallen soldiers who give their short lives for our lifelong freedom, we’ve set aside one single solitary day to celebrate our mothers who give the incalculable gift of their life and love to their children. Not that any mother will … More Thanks, Mom
The men below form the team that God has brought to The Master’s College dormitories to oversee, love, care for, instruct, disciple, counsel, challenge, and train the next generation of the church’s men. On either side of me are the four male Resident Directors I’ve served with this year, men of character, passion, humility, integrity, … More Men at Work
These last few weeks before graduation are always filled with public thank-you’s, gifts of gratitude, and tokens of appreciation. The academic excellence of students and the sacrificial faithfulness of leaders calls out many well-deserved expressions of honor. On the Deans’ Staff this year, we’ve had the privilege of serving alongside a very rare student leader — … More Gift Exchanges
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
We knew this day would come; we just didn’t know when. The next two months will be our last at The Master’s College. If the Lord wills, we will be moving to Louisville, Kentucky this summer to begin a Ph.D. in Biblical Studies at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary led by President Al Mohler. We have lived … More Moving On
After almost two months, I’m long overdue for an update. Remarkably, this will be only the second post of 2010. For the past two years the tyranny of the urgent has become the dominion under which I live, and that dominion has disallowed thoughtful writing. However, I sense that I may be on the brink of returning to … More An Update
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
You know your blog has lost steam and substance when posts only appear in conjunction with the calendar (Christmas and New Year’s, for instance). Perhaps I’ve officially joined the ranks of the periodic drive-by commentator pounding out shallow remarks about contemporary events, complete with the obligatory pre-post apologies. At least I’m just in time for … More Pre-Atonement Projects
From beneath a stunning Christmas Eve blanket of snow in Tulsa, Oklahoma, here are two spectacular versions of my favorite Christmas hymn to stir your heart and heat your worship. Although lesser known by far, I like the second more than the first, because Celine Dion is a performer, while David Phelps is a worshiper. … More A Thrill of Hope
I have realized that I cannot come close to expressing the joy I feel during the Christmas season. Somehow, some way, for the past several years, the awe and wonder of the incarnation have multiplied exponentionally in my heart during the weeks leading up to Christmas. I am especially taken with the beauty, depth, and power … More Joy to the World
In recent meditations on gratitude, the Lord has led me to consider how personal gratitude impacts the surrounding community. Most of these are not direct goals of gratitude, but some of the significant side effects. Gratitude exposes complaining. Get around a thankful, positive, hopeful person, and your negativity will be exposed. Be a thankful, positive, hopeful … More Gratitude in Community
On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to … More The One Who Returned
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