As a preacher, I pray often for people to respond to the invitation. I do not pray that for some ego trip, but because people need to come to the Lord, and the invitation is a wonderful time for someone to respond. Others are present and can encourage, and it is also an encouragement to them to see these responses. However, what should do when someone responds, either to be baptized or in need of prayers? I want to give a few practical suggestions. These are not “book, chapter, and verse” commands; rather, they are practical principles that will help this be a joyful time. 1. Go Get Them! This one…

Make no mistake, in the midst of a culture where fewer and fewer people are desirous of organized religion, there are still people searching for the right church. Several times in the last week, whether in conversation, social media, or otherwise, I have come into contact with people who are trying to make a decision about where they will worship and abide in a local body of believers. We need to be careful about calling “church-shopping” self-centered. After all, we have all been looking at one time or another. Perhaps we moved to a new city. Maybe we had to leave an unresolvable spiritual problem in the congregation in which…

Some of us “of a certain age” remember a particular movie that was made years ago in which the title of the movie and the name of the main character were the same: Dances With Wolves. The main character in the movie was given that name by some Indians. They observed his actions with a particular wolf that he befriended (and that had befriended him). It appeared to the Indians that the man and the wolf were dancing, so the man “earned” the name Dances with Wolves. I’m wondering what our names would be if people just observed my actions and gave me what they considered to be an appropriate name. As a teacher…

There was a young man who grew up in the youth group in a congregation where I used to preach. I was present at his baptism. It was a joy to be around him. He was charismatic and funny, and very talented. Before long he was arguably our congregation’s best song leader. But he left the church. He went into the homosexual community and “came out.” Our church loved him and his parents loved him. We never left him alone, or treated him as an outcast, or gave up on him. In fact, we went the extra mile to try to understand and help him with his struggle. And so…

As many of you know, I love humor. I enjoy a good, clean joke. I enjoy being around people who can share humorous experiences. I just love to laugh and be around people who laugh. It seems to me that, sometimes, the most effective humor is that which contains a kernel of truth. There are times when there is much more than merely that kernel. There are times when humor can make a person stop and think. I was recently going through some fairly old material and found what I think is one example of that. The December, 1990 issue of Readers Digest contained a story that appeared in its “Campus Comedy” section.  It made me…