Last week, my church gave me the chance to attend a writing conference. This is my ‘thank you’ letter to the pastor-elders at my church. In the letter, I share a few of the things I learned.
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There has been a steady stream of books about homosexuality published in the last few years, but two in particular from evangelical authors have received a lot of attention. The two books I am speaking of are IS GOD ANTI-GAY? by Sam Allberry and WASHED AND WAITING by Wesley Hill. And they should receive attention; they are great books.
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Months ago, in a blog post I promised I would occasionally have poetry on my blog, but so far I have not delivered on that promise—until now. In honor of Mother’s Day, here is a poem to encourage young mothers to keep their identity in Christ.
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Genesis 33 is the story of the reuniting of two brothers named Jacob and Esau. Bad blood kept them estranged for twenty years. In this (long) blog post, I had the privilege of sitting down for an interview with Jacob and Esau to explore just what was going on behind their words and actions in this confusing chapter of the Bible.
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We learn to read in kindergarten and improve that skill throughout the rest of our education. However, it seems to me that much of our adult life is aimed at un-learning this skill, not because we can’t still read words, but because we are drowning in content. And this influences our Bible reading. Here are a few thoughts on sloppy reading, good preaching, and growing fruit in your own backyard.
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Becoming a mother is to enlist in a war. And what makes this war so difficult, is that the enemies are not always obvious. MOM ENOUGH is written by women that know much about the difficulties of this war, but who also know about how to win.
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Sometimes when you read a small sample of a larger piece of writing you just know immediately that the author is an excellent author. Here are some reflections about noticing this, and then how to learn from it.
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A FAN AND FLAME book review of FUTURE MEN by Douglas Wilson, an excellent roadmap to train boys (of all ages) to be the men God designed us to be.
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What does a certain piece of rock climbing gear have in common with a certain type of sermon? Both attach people to the rock.
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There was a time when I hated to read and write. Today, all of that has changed. But with this change came questions. For example, how do I pick which books to read, and once I do read them, how shall I make the most of them? Tony Reinke wrote a helpful book called LIT! to answer these questions.
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After nineteen seasons, I finally watched some of The Bachelor. And because I believe women should be held in honor, and because I believe sex is a gift from God, I won’t ever watch again.
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A review of Burning Hearts: Preaching to the Affections by Moody and Weeks.
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A FAN AND FLAME book review of THE GRAVE ROBBER by Mark Batterson. It’s a book about miracles, hope and hardship, and the unchanging God.
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It’s always nice to hear different types of people affirming the same basic thing. Here is an extended passage from a book about writing (WORDSMITHY by Douglas Wilson) where the author echoes something I shared last week from author Anne Lamott in her book BIRD BY BIRD.
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A few tips about the craft from a master artisan.
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Chemical reactions are strange things. Sometimes two ingredients that are unreactive by themselves, when combined, can become explosive, especially if shaken. This post is about two ingredients in my life that combined to create my call preach.
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A FAN AND FLAME book review of John Piper’s latest book, SEEING BEAUTY AND SAYING BEAUTIFULLY.
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We all experience rage. It’s natural. But does that make it (always) right? And more importantly, how we respond to our own emotions says a lot about us and our character.
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I’m not sure if readers love them, but I read enough blogs to know that bloggers love to create them: End-of-the-Year Lists. This is my contribution—the list of books I read in 2014 and a few comments about them.
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For sermon preparation and other teaching responsibilities, I typically spend a few hours a week reading Bible commentaries. But rarely do I read them cover to cover. However, I’m glad I did this for LEVITICUS by Dr. Jay Sklar. He is a reliable tour guide through, what is for many, a foreign land.
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