Road Trip: Texarkana, TX

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 …

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. …

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 …