"Jim" was the lead pastor of a popular mega-church. He was well-known by the media, wrote numerous books, and spoke at many conferences. I liked his teaching, and I didn't want to believe what I was hearing. Our friends knew another pastoral staff member at that church. This person's job, our friends explained, involved an inordinate amount of mopping up emotional messes which the lead pastor had left behind. The pastor lacked a certain character quality --a lack which eventually caused his resignation. With our Western cultural paradigm, we value strong, decisive leaders. We want Continue Reading
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3 Things Parents must Overcome to Raise Strong Christians
She was raised in a Christian family, and she was frustrated. No one seemed able or willing to provide her with satisfactory answers to her big questions about life, God, and reality. Halfway through high school, she abandoned her religious upbringing. It happens far too often, doesn't it? A young person has questions, but instead of engaging them and helping them wrestle through to the answers, adult Christians (including parents) often prescribe more devotional experiences as the answer. However, encouraging the emotional side of faith more does nothing to satisfy the Continue Reading
The Most Important Reason Not to Always Pursue your Dreams
You may recall my previous post, wherein I told the stories of a young mother who successfully built a business and a young father who spent his extra hours earning money for his boy’s college fund. Inspiring stories like these move us to do the same. We’re motivated by the popular slogan printed on many a T shirt, Follow Your Dreams. Doesn’t this notion appeal to the spirit of American independence? Don’t we love the idea of leaving our day jobs to be our own bosses? Don’t we long for financial security (never mind that it’s an oxymoron)? Here’s the thing: followers of Jesus Continue Reading
6 Ways You Could Accidentally Curse Your Children (and How to Avoid That)
Walking down a grocery store aisle, I passed a woman who was so angry with her little boy that she unleashed a stream of raging profanities at him, inches from his face. He was maybe three years old. Twenty years later, I still wonder if I should have said something to that frustrated mother. Hopefully, those of us who love and follow Jesus aren’t generally given to screaming vulgarities at our children. However, just because we don’t use four-letter words at ear-piercing volume doesn’t mean we never curse our kids. Christians can utter curses without realizing it –curses as Continue Reading