More and more I am disturbed with the lack of difference that "Christians" show in their lives. "Difference" means that they show a true change and separation from the ways of the world. This includes choice of words, topics, and general way of living. As I have read blogs, talked with different people, and studied the culture we live in, I am amazed at the lack of conviction in living out the Biblical Christian life. I am sickened to hear professing Christians use profanity, speak of ong...

Love is the foundation of our faith. We are commanded to love the Lord and each other. Without love, everything we are or claim to be crumbles. So, here is the problem. There is a difference between blind love and unconditional love. Blind love says, "I will let you do whatever you want to do (even if it is wrong and will hurt you)." Unconditional love says, "I will love you no matter what you do, but I will not love everything that you do." We are beginning to see the end of our r...

I just got off the phone with an elderly lady whose name we were given as someone needing a church home. I contacted her to see if we could come by and visit her tonight. Her reply: “No way. I don’t want to have anything to do with that church. It’s full of hypocrites.” It amazes me how easily people are to dismiss a church for “hypocrisy.” It’s true, our churches ARE full of hypocrites. The question I sometimes want to ask is “do you mean that you never act in a hypocritic...

I just finished reading an article about the fact that most churches have a large percentage of their role which they cannot find. Yikes! But it's true: In our little rural church, we have 500 people on role, but only have 75 people on average. Where is everyone?!!! The article talks about the days when church attendance was well OVER the membership, because of visitors and children of members. I've heard someone recently state that churches need to strive to run over %100 of their m...

If you have ever read John 1:41, you will find an example for all Christians to follow: reach out to those closest to you and bring them to Jesus. In this ever-changing world, plans are developed and discarded every day for ways to effectively reach people with the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. Unfortunately, the more plans we make, the less we look like the examples we find in the Bible.