Pastoral Ministry in the COVID-19 Season
I often think of pastoral ministry as occurring in seasons. Each season of the year creates a unique dynamic in the church calendar. Yet we could also think of seasons as times of sowing, watering, and reaping. That Scriptural principle describes the world of agriculture. But I mean “season” in a broader sense. During most seasons of ministry, pastors do the normal work of praying for others, studying for sermons, leading meetings,...
Reflections on Ph.D. Studies
In the spring of 2018, I fulfilled the requirements for my Ph.D. in Theology and Culture. When I walked across the stage that May, it signaled the culmination of more than one season of study. In reality, it marked the completion of a fifteen-year pilgrimage in biblical, theological, and ministerial education.[1] Having that educational experience in the rearview mirror now for a year and a half, I look back with the perspective the...
Maximizing the Midsize Church: An Interview with David Peter
How big is your church? This question has been asked of all pastors by fellow pastors, neighbors, family members, and often on denominational reporting forms (just to name a few instances). I’ve often thought the question itself is consequential and meaningful but not for the reasons people often think. Church size is not just about a pastor or a congregation’s past or present faithfulness. It is also intimately connected to our...
Modern Technology and the Human Future: A Christian Appraisal
(Note: An earlier version of this book review appeared on the Center for the Study of Ethics and Technology website) The world is changing quickly. The nature of the change varies from region to region, but behind these economic, social, and political “accelerations,” to use Thomas Friedman’s term, lays one unified force: modern technology. “Modern automatic machine technologies,” as author and professor Craig Gay states it, are...
What Preachers Can Learn from Tom Brady
(Note: An earlier version of this article appeared at www.fwbtheology.com, the official blog of the Free Will Baptist Commission for Theological Integrity) This past Sunday, for the ninth time in eighteen years as a starting quarterback, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots played in the Super Bowl. He had won five of his previous eight trips to football’s biggest game (and the most watched sporting event in America) before adding a...
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