When her doctor told our daughter Katie late Sunday night that Brynn, her unborn baby, was under stress and she needed an immediate C-section, the first thing she did was to call Pam and me from the hospital in California. “Can you come?” We could hear the anxiety in her voice and responded without hesitation. “We’ll be there as quick as we can.” What did our children need and how could we help? I blogged about Brynn’s miraculous healing in utero a couple of months ago. When we learned there might be a problem with her birth we felt even more urgency about Katie’s situation. We dropped everything and […]
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Recommending Christian books is always a challenge because tastes vary so widely. The writing that changes one person’s life might bore someone else to death. Another problem is the shallowness of so many books that carry the “Christian” label. A prime example is Joel Osteen’s bestseller a few years ago, “Your Best Life Now,” which managed to combine America’s obsession with personal success with the gospel promises of the Bible at a 4th-grade reading level. That’s no small accomplishment. But there are authentic, thoughtful and challenging books out there for Christians who want to dive into the deep waters of the faith. So, here are ten books that have impacted my thinking and, […]
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It’s almost Christmas, and at my house we’ve unpacked the boxes in the attic full of special decorations we only use this time of year. My wife and I have loads of stuff. The Christmas tree decorations are my particular favorites—everything from the first bauble we bought as a newly married couple over thirty years ago to the set of loopy ceramic penguins that presides over our home from the most visible position on the tree. Then there are the manger scenes (maybe a half dozen), lights, seasonal candles, table runners, china and so many knick-knacks I lose count. At Christmas we pull out all the stops and make our home as […]
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In a recent blog, Father Stephen Freeman raises the bar of thanksgiving from a simple holiday to the higher place it should hold in our hearts: The act of giving thanks is among the most fundamental acts of love. It lies at the very heart of worship – in which, in the words of Archimandrite Zacharias of Essex, there is an exchange. In giving thanks we make an offering which itself is always inferior to what we have received – but which is itself an enlargement of the human heart. To live rightly in the presence and communion of God is to live in a state of constant thanksgiving. For […]
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Prayer is as close to a unifying core value as you can find here in Lexington, SC—and that helps explain why living here is so attractive. To be sure, different parts of our community have core value statements that try to capture each one’s essential purpose. For Lexington Town Hall it’s “Building Partnerships.” Lexington One School District sets its direction with “Where Children and Learning Are One.” The Chamber of Commerce looks to “Promote Business Prosperity.” Lexington County opts for the well known, “In God We Trust.” Lexington believes in the power of prayer When you survey our community’s landscape as a whole, though, one value stands […]
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The murder of twenty-six innocent people at First Baptist Church Sutherland Springs, Texas last Sunday put all churches on notice. I was as horrified as everyone else—for the victims and their families, of course, but as a pastor I also grieved for congregations everywhere. Not even churches are safe from the mindless violence sweeping the nation, and security is now a crucial part of ministry. When 26-year-old Devin Patrick Kelley put on black tactical gear and walked into the middle of the worship service with a semi-automatic weapon, he encountered no barriers or obstacles. The church was wide open to him. We’re confronted with the reality of evil […]
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Modern American pastors need to return to the role of spiritual father. A chance remark by one of my younger staff members this week brought this truth home to me. She told me how she’d described my ministry to some first-time guests to our church. “He’s fatherly,” she said to them. My first thought was she meant I was old and sometimes needed help climbing the stairs (not true) or maybe hard of hearing (true). Later I realized she was describing my approach to ministry as parental in addition to theological and organizational—and to that charge I’m happy to plead guilty. The pastors in the Bible were spiritual fathers […]
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Last week my family prayed for a miracle and we’re still trying to get our heads around how our prayers were answered. Figuring out how and why God does what he does isn’t as simple as some people seem to think. Our daughter Katie lives on the West Coast and is pregnant with her second child, a little girl. Several weeks ago, her 20-week ultrasound indicated something was potentially wrong with the baby’s heart. As a result, Katie was referred to a high-risk doctor last Tuesday for more in-depth testing. At that appointment, the doctor did in fact find a defect, a structural deformity in which a key blood […]
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Planting a church isn’t for the faint of heart—only those with an appetite for risk and impatience with the status quo should apply. Maybe more churches should take that attitude to heart. I realized the importance of risk-taking all over again last week while visiting Portland, Oregon, one of America’s premier cities but also one well-known for its resistance to the gospel. My church sent one of our young families there last summer to start a new congregation and my wife and I went to check out how they were doing. Kevin and Jenn Lott along with their four children left their long-time home here in South Carolina […]
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Stephen Paddock’s murder spree was the latest in the growing list of American encounters with evil in its purest form. But I’m not sure we’re ready to admit it. Last Sunday night at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival near Las Vegas, Nevada, the 64-year-old Paddock took aim from his suite in the upper stories of the hotel across the street and began pouring automatic weapons fire into the 22,000 people gathered at the concert. When the 11-minute barrage ended 58 people lay dead on the ground and over 500 were wounded. Even for a nation grown numb with murder Paddock’s act stands alone. He killed more people than […]
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