Outreach
This past spring, we watched the coronavirus pandemic hit the world around. At the time of this writing, the globe has seen over 7 million people affected by this pandemic and over 400,000 have died. My own country, India, has crossed the 200,000 mark of cases and over 6,000 people have died. America has almost […]
I think about missions a lot. I am a pastor and a missionary, and I serve on a missions committee for a church I do not pastor. I think about it every day. I have been a Christian a lot longer: forty-six years. When I started reading the Bible back in 1973, something began to […]
In January 2014, I attended an urban ministry class at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi, through the Reformed African American Network. Dr. Carl Ellis said something there that startled me: although he has talked with countless urban ministries that target women and children, very few target men. Why is this the case? First, kids […]
In most areas of our lives, balance is key. My transition from the single life of microwavable pizzas and Doritos to the healthy home-cooking of my wife taught me the importance of a balanced diet. My belt size is proof. A biblical balance is precisely what Duane Litfin (president emeritus of Wheaton College) aims for […]
The 2007 Pixar movie WALL-E is set in a ruined Earth of the future. As the planet has become an uninhabitable trash heap from human excess, many Earthlings drift randomly through space on a massive spaceship created by an entrepreneurial mogul. Lifelong tourists, the ship's passengers enjoy daily shopping, entertainment, meals, and snacks. Slurping their […]
Even the least traveled among us understands that there are such things as cultural "no-nos" that one would be wise to avoid. Wearing a Los Angeles Lakers jersey in South Boston would be one example (albeit a commendable and heroic one to be sure). In the world of American evangelicalism, one of the most offensive […]
When confronting the Great Commission, the most vital question is the “what.” What is the message that needs to be proclaimed to all nations? What do disciples look like? And what is the point? (1) This article, however, is not going to address those questions. This article concerns itself instead with the “how” of the […]
If you know someone heading out of seminary or a graduate school of theology eager to apply that confessional missionary zeal of their denominational fathers to a calling parish, then it's likely they will be in for a rude awakening rather than a great one. Increasingly throughout Reformation orthodoxy, greenhorn pastors like myself-as well as […]
