I had a great visit recently with Marty Claiborne, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Texarkana, TX. Marty’s heart to serve the members of Hillcrest piqued my interest. For instance, the day we met, Marty had already taken one of his members to Shreveport, LA that day for a radiation treatment. He explained that the …
Monthly Archives: May 2014
What “We’ve always done it that way” really means.
“We’ve always done it that way.” There is a certain stereotype in the minds of pastors and church leaders when they hear that phrase. The stereotype I am referring to is of an out-of-touch, die-hard, traditional, older member who can’t see the ridiculous nature of basing decisions mindlessly upon patterns of behavior in the past. …
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Speaking of the Gospel…
Surely we’ve all heard the quote attributed to St. Francis of Assisi encouraging believers to “Preach the gospel daily, use words when necessary.” It turns out that there is no record of St. Francis ever making that statement. In fact, since Francis was a member of a preaching order, he probably would have disagreed with …
A Strange Way to Shine
Recently, I was reading through the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5. As usual, Jesus reveals how kingdom values are counterintuitive to the world. In Matthew 5:14-16, He states, ““You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it …
Gravity Got You Down?
After my son Bryce’s birthday party last year, I tied a couple of balloons to his doorknob. Almost two weeks later, Bryce and I came in the house after a long day. He went to his room and I went to my room. “Aw man!” I heard across the house. I ran to see what …