Two years in a row now, my friend Neil Olcott, who runs our local chapter of the C.S. Lewis Institute discipleship program, has made the unfortunate blunder of inviting me to lecture on the topic of the Holy Spirit and spiritual warfare. You’d think the poor chap would have learned his lesson after the first … Continue reading The Indwelling Holy Spirit and Authority in Spiritual Conflict
How Not to Make Friends and Influence People
Once, after hearing a very gracious, gentle, nuanced pastor preach a particularly bold sermon warning against false teachers, I commented to him, “It’s good to see a vertebrate in the pulpit.” To my surprise, he replied, not skipping a beat, “I call it having evantesticles.” (He also knew that puns are my love language.) This … Continue reading How Not to Make Friends and Influence People
7 Tips for Aspiring Christian Writers
Blogging gets a bad rap. For some, it’s a hobby at best. For others, it’s an art, or even a divine calling. How should Christians approach this craft? My friend Benjamin Vrbicek, a far more gifted writer than me, is tackling some of these very questions in a forthcoming book for Christian writers. Benjamin’s most … Continue reading 7 Tips for Aspiring Christian Writers
The War Against Victimhood Starts in Our Own Hearts
Postmodernity has seen the replacement of truth and hierarchy with lived experience and group identity. And, as any ethical or religious system necessarily demands the recognition of justified and unjustified classes, the West has embraced victimhood as its standard of righteousness. One’s victim status is not only the top new currency; it’s also the robe … Continue reading The War Against Victimhood Starts in Our Own Hearts
Is Platform-Building a Sin? (With 11 Diagnostic Questions)
If humility is a Christian virtue, false humility is an evangelical vice. Such describes the state of the Christian blogosphere, which itself is marked both by its fair share of platform-building efforts and humble hot takes repudiating the practice itself. Scripture is clear in stating that a haughty spirit precedes destruction (Proverbs 16:18). Exaltation in … Continue reading Is Platform-Building a Sin? (With 11 Diagnostic Questions)
3 Identities of the Christian Man
Author’s note: this article is cross-posted on Founders.org. What is a Christian? In spite of the New Testament’s clarity, if you were to ask a dozen self-identified evangelicals about their Christian identity, you’d get a dozen, mystifying, disparate answers. Some would reject the label “Christian” in favor of a deconstructed term like “Jesus-follower” with presumably … Continue reading 3 Identities of the Christian Man
Transition, Trust, and Tablescapes
Life in ministry is teeming with transitions. Whether it’s moving your family to answer a pastoral calling, sending off a missionary from your church, bringing onboard a new pastor, or passing through parted waters of seminary on dry ground—a life lived in service of the kingdom is always in flux, never fixed in one easy, … Continue reading Transition, Trust, and Tablescapes
Holy Ambition, Part Two
A few months ago, I wrote on the fact that we as evangelicals tend to baptize mediocrity in the water of false humility. By contrast, God calls us to a kind of Christ-exalting, cross-carrying striving for excellence and achievement for God’s glory and the good of others. Since this is a lesson worth learning more … Continue reading Holy Ambition, Part Two
Glut Yourself on Grace
When I boot up in the morning, my default operating system is works-righteousness. Not that I consciously believe that my good deeds can merit eternal life for me—but when left to myself, my natural mode is to believe I have to bring something to the table in order for God to reciprocate. Having firmly established … Continue reading Glut Yourself on Grace
Greatness, Resolutions, and Principled Mediocrity
We know that self-seeking and domineering are bad, so we assume that mediocrity is good. But self-discipline makes you a Pharisee the same way whitewash makes you a tomb.
