Planting by Pastoring
“Do I have what it takes to be a church planter?” That question plagued me in 2016 as I began to think about planting a church in Gallatin, Tennessee. Many of the church planters I knew inside and outside of my denomination were high energy, tech savvy, and had magnetic personalities. None of those phrases describe me. But I had had an interest in church planting since I was a college student. Now the opportunity to plant a church...
John Smyth and Baptist Covenantal Theology
by Billy Champion Why do Baptists (credobaptists) disagree with Presbyterians, Methodists, Anglicans, and others (paedobaptists) about baptism? As much as we may want to conclude it is simply because we interpret passages about baptism differently, the answer is not quite so straightforward. Those passages, of course, are not insignificant, but the issue runs deeper. For credobaptists and paedobaptists alike, our interpretation of...
Teaching Bible Stories without Moralizing
One morning I read the Parable of the Mustard Seed to my four-year-old. He knows something about seeds and plants already, since he has watched the sunflower seeds he planted grow mammoth and yellow all summer. But, to ensure he has some context, I explain that a mustard seed is also very small—smaller even than a sunflower seed—yet grows into a large plant. I read the story. He sits in silence. Then his eyes widen in wonder as he...
A Challenge from a Young Pastor to Young Ministry Students
To a young ministry student, You are entering into an exciting time in your ministry journey. A few years ago, maybe in a meeting with your pastor or during a youth event, you sensed a call from God to ministry. Or maybe it was more recent, and you have been slowly trying to discern whether you “desire such an office.” Nevertheless, you are here now and training to be a pastor in a local congregation. In my own experience, this period...
A Case For Gardening
by Sarah E. Benton Contemporary pop culture with its consumerist values tends to associate gardening with the leisure of the elderly and those with antiquated preferences. However, many people in the current cultural landscape have shifted toward more agrarian sensibilities, whether consciously or unconsciously. Families are settling into life lived off the land, growing their own vegetables and raising their own livestock. Others...
A Free Will Baptist Looks at John Piper’s All that Jesus Commanded
An Overview of the Book While John Piper’s All that Jesus Commanded: The Christian Life according to the Gospels is hot off the press, it is actually a revised, second edition of his earlier work, What Jesus Demands from the World (2006). “The new title,” Piper explains, “is intended to make more clear the relevance of this book for every Christian. It deals with every command Jesus gave and how it relates to Christian living...
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