A recent Pew Research Center poll titled “Why Americans Go (and Don’t Go) to Religious Services” caught my attention this week. There’s a lot of information, but here’s what I gleaned from it: Among adults who attend church services at least once or twice a month, when asked to rank reasons they attend as very…
When I first became a pastor, I knew that performing weddings was part of the job. But nobody ever taught me how to do it in Bible college. You’d think that would be a requirement. So when a young couple asked me to officiant their wedding, I panicked. I’d never done a wedding before! Where…
I took two attempts to finish seminary. My first attempt was short-lived because I didn’t set myself up for success. In my second attempt, I graduated with honors. In my first attempt, I dropped out in the first semester because I had too much going on: a job transition, moving, the premature birth of my…
The word mission is not a biblical word, so we must define what we mean when we talk about a mission. The word mission comes from the Latin words mitto (to send) and missio (sending). So mission implies that someone has sent something to accomplish a task. In other words, God has sent the church…
It’s disturbing how many of the pastors that I grew up idolizing have fallen. My early years in ministry were shaped by pastors like Perry Noble (alcohol abuse and divorce), Mark Driscoll (abuse of power), Rob Bell (heresy), and the list could go on. Straight out of Bible College, I worked under a senior pastor…
Something is bothering me in the aftermath of Easter. I’m trying to let it go, but I can’t. A lot of pastors are only preparing their preaching week-to-week, and worse, many are just beginning to write their sermons on Saturday before delivering it on Sunday! “Brandon, how do you know?” Here’s how: Traffic on this…
Have you ever felt unprepared? This year, my four-year-old son began his first season playing flag football. It didn’t go as expected. When we arrived for his first practice and scrimmage, we learned that our coach had a personal emergency and would not be able to help our team this year. Since I was the only…
Before we begin, you need to know that I spent years as a student participating, as a volunteer serving, and as a pastor leading in the student ministry trenches. I began as an idealistic young man. I was going to love Jesus, love students, and serve God to the best of my abilities. But the…
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