Pastoral Burnout: Why Community Matters and How to Find It
Author’s note: This is my fourth article dealing with pastoral burnout. Recent Barna research revealed that 33% of ministers had given serious thought to quitting.[1] My own research for a graduate studies project showed 63% of those surveyed had given or were giving serious thought to quitting the ministry. Previous articles provide an overview to […]
What Does the Bible Say About Loneliness?
Before the pandemic, I think it’s safe to assume many people would not have thought of loneliness as a big issue. Maybe it was an unfortunate inconvenience, but one that was fairly easy to overcome. But once isolation, quarantine, and distance became a reality, more and more people began to understand the impacts of loneliness […]
A Lesson from the Church in Croatia
“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” (John 13:35, NLT) In the years since Croatia’s break from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, evangelical Christians in the country have both enjoyed and endured a burgeoning of religious expression. And with this newfound freedom, the question has now […]
The Scoop on Happiness in Church
I believe summer nights should end with ice cream. And I don’t just mean frozen desserts; I mean ice cream. Frozen custard counts. Same for gelato. In a tight spot, exceptions can be made for frozen yogurt. Please don’t bother me with sorbets, sherbet, popsicles, Italian ice, or snow cones–all sophisticated ways of smuggling frozen […]
Who Was Barnabas in the Bible? Reflections on Being a Man of Encouragement
“A personal relationship with Jesus Christ” has been a popular catchphrase in Western Christian circles for over a century. Theologically, there is merit in the phrase as we all must stand before God personally and cannot secure our salvation through the faith of others or our religious law keeping. We all must decide, on our […]
A Tasteful Way to Share the Gospel
God has given us the greatest gift that a person can ever receive through the gospel. If we truly appreciate what we have received and truly love people, we naturally feel compelled to share the gospel with them. But, on a human level, we can still feel awkward. Is there someone in your life, maybe […]
Loneliness Is an Opportunity
Have you ever been struck by a statement so sobering and yet so true, it brought you no sadness—only peace and acceptance? I recently had that experience reading Larry Crabb’s book, Encouragement. The book shared plenty of practical advice about stepping beyond surface-level chitchat and speaking directly to the fears of those hurting in your […]
What We Must Learn from Andrew Tate Even If We Don’t Want To
What do you do with a man of arrogance and rebellion who inspires the hearts of countless young men and boys in a world deliberately set against them? What do you do with Andrew Tate? When a friend asked me about Andrew, I didn’t know much about the man beyond his kickboxing, affluent lifestyle, and […]
