Blog
Dignity and Depravity
"The Bible offers a complete spiritual diet. But we all come to this feast with our own tastes and preferences (biases), shaped by our personalities, upbringing, culture, social status, and life experiences. These preferences can lead us to fill our plates with only what's familiar, building our spiritual nutrition around a limited menu. The consequences of such selective feeding can be grave. This is true for every biblical doctrine, including our identities."
Hosting The Presence Of Christ
“In John 15, Jesus taught that branches must remain connected to the vine to produce fruit. Likewise, if we are to produce fruit, we need to remain connected to him, the lifegiving vine. This is part of Jesus’ farewell discourse to his disciples, his parting words. And weighing heavily on his heart and mind was the disciples’ need to abide in him.
This message was so important to Jesus that he repeated it ten times. He longed for intimate union and communion with his disciples—for them (and us) to stay connected to him, allowing his love and presence to take up residence in them so that they would produce much fruit (John 15:1-10).
This is what makes hosting the presence of Christ possible. It is a holy calling to spiritual hospitality, offering back to others what we have received. Extending his love and presence through sharing wisdom, forgiveness, mercy, and spiritual gifts, in every conversation we have with a friend or family member.”
Part 3: The Broken and Beautiful Church | Comfort For the wounded
"Your body knows before your mind does.
When I lost my balance during yoga and felt those dizzy spells, my body was telling me something my mind wasn't ready to hear. Years later, I realized this same principle applies to toxic church environments.
Tight chest before staff meetings? Dread before Sunday service? Insomnia after pastoral conversations? These aren't coincidences—they're your body's alarm system.
Your physical and emotional responses deserve curiosity, not dismissal. Sometimes the most obvious truths are the hardest to see."
Part 2: The Broken and Beautiful Church | A Call To Shepherds
"God established the church. He set her apart and called her to be a beacon of hope to the world around her. But the church, like Israel, is also prone to wander from the path God set before her.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones captured this tragic tendency when he warned,
“The church is always to be under the Word; she must be; we must keep her there. You must not assume that because the church started correctly, she will continue so. She did not do so in the New Testament times; she has not done so since. Without being constantly reformed by the Word, the church becomes something very different.”
Many church leaders start with good desires: to share the Gospel, to study the Scriptures, to grow in spiritual maturity, and to serve those in their care. But just because a church started well doesn’t mean it will finish well. It’s far too easy to forget our origins and pattern ourselves after the world around us—worshiping the idols of power, influence, or notoriety. We are vulnerable to pride and the allure of success. When these things continue unchecked, we may find we begin to favor the strong over the weak and vulnerable, elevate and build churches as kingdoms rather than taking the posture of servants, and neglect or mistreat those God has entrusted to us."
Part 1: The Broken and Beautiful Church | “Something isn’t Right?”
The church is both terribly broken and remarkably beautiful, but she is still God’s plan. It can be hard to hold these two truths together at the same time, especially if your spiritual mentors, fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers have wounded you. This requires willingness and work not to throw the baby out with the bathwater but to test everything and hold on to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). We can honor the church and those who labor for her while also being honest about their sins, weaknesses, and failings. We can forgive and make allowance for one another’s faults while also calling for repentance. We can trust what God is doing through his Church, even when skeptical about the organizations representing her. We can acknowledge and be thankful for the fruit we’ve experienced while always recognizing when weeds begin to choke it out. We can love while also choosing to leave.