Your congregation has planned that special event, and you were part of the group that helped plan it. Maybe it is Vacation Bible School. Maybe it’s a Gospel Meeting. Maybe it’s a special marriage seminar. And then, the event comes, and the attendance is nowhere near what was expected. Now, those of you who planned for the event are down, and maybe you hear that “no one” came (which simply isn’t true). How can we handle those times? Here are a few suggestions for handling an event where “no one” comes. Remember the Purpose. Why did you have the event in the first place? Was there a purpose statement given?…

Recently, as we were singing a hymn where I worship, I was struck by the meaning of some of the words we were singing. Has that ever happened to you? The words that caught my attention are the final words (at least in our songbooks) of “Sweet Hour of Prayer.” They depict the transition from earth to heaven for the faithful Christian in these words: This robe of flesh I’ll drop and rise To seize the everlasting prize; And shout, while passing through the air, “Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer!” Prayer is viewed by some as only an almost rote religious exercise. Others may view it as only a duty to be…

I finally did it! I went to Florida and did not come home with some part of my body blistered or hurting. How did I do that? I actually followed the directions about applying my sunscreen. I did it before I was out in the sun. I made sure I covered everywhere. And I reapplied as needed. Sometimes in the past, I fully deserved to be burned. I just couldn’t be bothered with sunscreen. At least once, I had a spot down by my ankle that somehow I missed when applying the sunscreen and wound up blistered and hurting. Still other times, there were other factors like wind and sand…

Would you believe me if I told you that there is something inside of you that you can’t remove no matter how hard you try? You may be a free moral agent with choices to make and a future to pursue but there is one thing for sure that you have no control over whatsoever. You see, God made you in such a way that you are always going to be searching for or making some kind of effort to define the purpose of your existence. The great and wise Solomon once said, “He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity in their hearts, except…

The thoughts below are over sixteen years old. I recently found them in some older material I was going through. I think that they are just as worthy of our consideration now as they were when they were originally penned.  I am indebted to brother Dan Jenkins for what I think are some very insightful observations. Please read them carefully and prayerfully. I am aware of the fact that some who may regularly read these posts are accustomed to having choirs, choruses, praise teams, etc. where they worship. For that reason, they may not understand the concern expressed by brother Jenkins. The reason for his concern (and mine) is that we find any authority…

Paul famously wrote that, for the Christian, “our citizenship is in heaven” (Philippians 3:20). Due to that statement, some Christians struggle with days like today, where our nation celebrates a national holiday. May Christians participate in these patriotic acts? The answer is found in the concept of balance. First of all, I would suggest that Christians need to keep their priorities in check. In other words, it is possible for a nation–or, to word it another way, civic pride–to become an idol. If I am more proud to be an American (or a citizen of any nation on earth) than I am of being a Christian, then I have a…

I entitled this article with the intention of getting the highest volume of readers possible. I wanted it to be an open question that was balanced and that did not from the get-go seem to be slanted in any direction whatsoever. Because this is what I want to consider – should we be policing or should we be preaching? From a congregational standpoint, God organized individual autonomous congregations to have elders who would shepherd their own flocks. Church discipline was never practiced arbitrarily but only according to the doctrine that was communicated by the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. In other words, there are divine directives for how and…