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In a church in Georgetown, Kentucky this week, there is going to be a funeral for one of my fellow teachers at the ministry where I serve. His name was Henry.
Henry came to our school from a career in ministry, public school administration and teaching. After retirement he lost his wife, and a great sadness […]

Denise and I were traveling to an unfamiliar church last night, and even with perfectly good directions and plenty of time, we got lost. So I stopped at McDonald’s and asked for help.
Asking for directions at McDonald’s for a large downtown “First Baptist” church probably wasn’t a great idea anyway. One guy didn’t speak English. […]

The Sunday morning student worship gathering at our ministry has been going through the Apostles’ Creed. (We have completed the Ten Commandments and the Lord’s Prayer.) It’s my turn this Sunday, and my talk is about “I believe in the holy catholic church.” Considering that my audience is about 250 6th-12th graders, about half of […]

What do you do when God answers your prayers?
I am a fairly consistent reader and user of the Book of Psalms in my devotional life and worship leadership. Along the way, I’ve noticed that many of the Psalms are prayer or report episodes of prayer in the Psalms. In many of these Psalms, the Psalmist […]

Here in Kentucky, most of the Baptist Churches of a certain age have a particular approach to their names. Most choose to go the geographic route, so we have Three Forks of the Elkhorn, Muddy Gap, First Baptist Every-town-you-can-think-of, a couple of thousand “creeks” of various kinds and so on.
After that, Bible names come in […]

I’m absolutely enthused over two sermon podcasts I’ve been listening to for several weeks. Both are examples of Anglican/Episcopal Churches that are standing for historic orthodoxy, but also embodying the Gospel in relevant, lively, ground-level Christian communities. I want to recommend these podcasts for all my listeners. Both are simple outstanding, and both are lectionary […]

These posts will celebrate the Bible’s descriptions of what belongs to ALL Christians. Christian unity cannot be found in continually debating our differences, but in acknowledging what we all possess through union with Jesus Christ.
Galatians. 3:23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would […]

After I finished reading The Shack, I wrote out some prayers, and this is part of one. -MS
Jesus, you don’t build institutions.
You don’t write catechisms. Or Systematic Theologies. Or critiques of someone’s theology or refutations of their catechism.
You don’t have a blog.
You don’t moderate debates.
You are the bread of life who gives himself for the […]

This is most of a sermon on humility I preached in the Monday chapel service at the school where I serve. It’s taken from the lectionary text for the previous Lord’s Day. In many places I included illustrations and more content, but this gets the sermon across.
Text: Luke 14: 1, 7-11.
If someone were to compliment […]

I’ve mentioned the “Prosperity Gospel” in some presentations recently, and I’ve had some questions about what I mean when I use the term. I’m going to outline some very basic responses- and have a little to say about them- so that I can refer others to them as a more complete answer than I can […]

When I returned to worshiping at the SBC church down the street, one of the things I wasn’t looking forward to was the “open prayer request” time I’d experienced there in the past. My previous experiences left me with memories of too much information, too much detail, too much time….just too much.
Things haven’t been quite […]

Yesterday my wife told me that she wanted to make a suggestion on how I could be a better person. That’s a bit like shooting at a target the size of North Dakota, but she had a helpful, truthful criticism combined with some encouragement about a behavior I often overlook.
Of course, my feelings were hurt […]

Matthew 11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
John 7:37 On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture […]

I Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…

It is the simplest of verses, but its truth creates worship, rejoicing and exaltation in me every time I think about it.
There is one, one and only one, that stands between God and human beings. […]

Several weeks ago, I removed all specific references to where I work from this web site. Without violating that, I want to tell you a story from yesterday, when our high school had its 104th graduation ceremony.
For the past 30+ years, our school has taken many internationals and children of internationals as students. A fair […]