Several weeks ago now, John Crowder, pastor of First Baptist Church in West, TX, where the fertilizer plant exploded, wrote a moving and very useful column about ministry in the aftermath. He mentions a number of lessons he drew from the event, and several are useful for pastoral ministry. Here, in his words, is one that stuck …
I am currently reading to my children Douglas Jones’ little book, Huguenot Garden, which is a fictional story of the experiences of one Huguenot family as they seek to be faithful to God under persecution. There are many good points in the book, but one section we read last night stood out as brought home …
Continue reading ‘Pastor as Shepherd in a Children’s Book’ »
It has now been a week since the tornado came by our house and went on to hit Union University so severely. Most readers of this blog have probably already seen the coverage. If you are looking for information or are wanting to keep up the three key sites are: Union’s homepage- http://www.uu.edu/ The Official …
It is Reformation Day once again! There is much to celebrate and remember on this day commemorating the recovery of the gospel. This year I want to highlight two related points that I don’t think are thought of enough in connection with the Reformation. They are: suffering and missions. The Reformation had a missionary impulse …
In the church we often are unsure of how to handle grief. To grieve- whether the death of a loved one or the loss of a job or dream- is sometimes thought to demonstrate a lack of faith or an unwillingness to submit to God’s ways. If God is good and He has allowed this, …
Continue reading ‘The Virtue of Grieving in The Last Battle’ »
As I am catching up on some projects and reading, I just read Don Carson’s 10 page review of N. T. Wright’s Evil and the Justice of God. I recommend the review to you. It is good reading for pastors. Dealing with the reality of suffering and evil in the world is a perennial pastoral …
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My posts have been infrequent this last week and will probably be so this week as well with the conference coming this weekend. I have a backlog of book reviews which I will hope to get rolling next week. In the meantime, let me recommend Joel Beeke’s excellent brief article in the most recent Tabletalk. …
Suffering and the Sovereignty of God , ed. John Piper and Justin Taylor (Crossway, 2006), pb. 256 pp. I have not read this book all the way through, but I am very impressed with it so far. I think this will be a very useful resource for dealing with suffering and for helping, pastoring those …
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