Posts in category For the Heart

On one side of a table sits a man in deep crisis. He just lost everything, from his entire family to his possessions. We’ll call …

It was a time of pressure for my wife and me. My evenings were filled with classwork, our small children demanded constant attention from my wife throughout the day, and challenges in the ministry weighed on us and occupied much of our conversation. It was the perfect storm for burnout and disillusionment.

As the gender wars have raged in surrounding culture, many churches have responded by putting special emphasis on teaching “biblical manhood and womanhood.” But something unexpected has happened in the process. As we have talked more and more about “womanhood,” we have talked less and less about other equally vital doctrines.

The missionary who helps local Christians fulfill their ministries in a Biblical way will never have to worry about what will happen to the ministry after he leaves the field. It will continue in the capable of hands of local leadership.

It caught me one morning without any warning. I should have been jubilant. But now, unexpectedly, I felt empty and listless. After pouring my entire life into one goal for two years, I completely lost motivation when my goal was achieved.

Despite everyone’s diligent efforts and sincere desires, missionary activities sometimes involve varying degrees of ineffectiveness. Why? One explanation might be that Christians, churches, and missionaries simply are not thinking strategically about how to make a rescue operation achieve as many goals as possible. Here are two foundational strategies no Christian interested in missions can afford to ignore.

For Mother’s Day, we decided to share three testimonies of thankfulness for our Moms. These are expressions of gratitude, but they’re also more than that. These …

What follows is intended for unmarried men, though I suppose it’s silly to think young ladies won’t peek. So, if you’re a young lady, proceed with this caution: You may not like the counsel.

I’ll never forget that phone call. Life had been wonderful. We’d just moved into our home, spring was mercifully springing, and my wife was two months along with our second child. We awoke that morning to an ominous sign.

It’s tempting for us to think that, if only we could sit at the feet of David Platt or John Piper or Chuck Swindoll, we would be more spiritual. But the Bible tells us that God’s Word yields fruit, not when it pours through the lips of a renowned expositor or a dynamic Christian leader, but when it takes root in the fertile soil of an obedient heart (Matthew 13:18). In order to produce a bumper crop, great preaching needs great listening.