…Did none of the social justice warriors who succeeded in removing the NFL’s Redskins from Washington DC so that the Commanders could move in to take their place recognize the irony?…Because I grew up in a teetotaling home I am unable to recognize when I’m interacting with a person impaired by drugs or alcohol.  I interact as though they are reasoning normally and not always with pleasant results....  Read More

Following a moral principle at personal cost can be hard.  Even harder, however, is navigating life when two valid moral principles of good clash.This morning I was notified that our church’s name was tagged in a post about homelessness.  Some social justice warrior was railing on the churches in and around Pottstown for not solving the problem of the homeless camp outside of town.  He listed seve...  Read More

Every time turmoil in the Middle East makes the news, many conservative Christians get excited, certain that biblical prophecy is being fulfilled before their eyes because they believe the state of Israel is God’s chosen people, the center of God’s work on earth.But I have come to believe the New Testament teaches that Jesus is the chosen One, and those who have faith in Him, Jew and Gentile, form...  Read More

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!  How often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!Behold, your house is forsaken.  And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 13.34-35)Jerusalem, the capital of Judea...  Read More

I saw this once on a church marquee:WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU DIE?COME TO OUR CHURCH AND FIND OUT!Whether intentional humor or ironic oversight on the part of the sign-maker, this expresses a crucial truth about the purpose of the church.Following Jesus is about dying to self and about learning to die to self, and that can only be done in the context of interaction with other selves.  The flip side of...  Read More

Following Jesus, according to Jesus, involves dying to self:  discovering places in your soul where self has to be conquered, and then conquering it.  You put ‘you’ on the cross.  You deny your self, and yes, I intended ‘your’ and ‘self’ to be two separate words.  Denying self isn’t merely keeping things from yourself, but learning to say “no” to your self’s desires and drives – saying no to the s...  Read More

If people are drawn to you, eventually they’ll become a part of your circle, and that circle should include Christian friends and people from your church.  Becoming part of a Christian circle doesn’t make one a Christian.  But God’s drawing people to Himself necessarily involves the influence of and connection with others.  Others must lead the horse to the water.  When a soul decides to follow Ch...  Read More

The first step of reaching out to unchurched people is not connecting them to Christ or the church but connecting them to you.  That may sound heretical to our older crowd, but I’m guessing it’s just common sense to those forty and under.We want invite people to follow Christ, but there are obstacles to our being heard that weren’t quite as prominent even fifty years ago.  Christian leaders being ...  Read More

Do you stand eagerly at your door hoping a Jehovah’s Witness or Mormon will come by and share his religious ideas with you?  It is more likely that if you see them on your block you do your best to make it look like no one’s home!  Do you think it’s any different with preachy evangelicals?People don’t want to connect to religious fanatics.  They want to connect with people who share their interest...  Read More

Evangelism is about calling people to follow Christ, and following Christ is about learning a new way to live.  Knowing biblical truth isn’t an end in itself.  We are learning to escape corrosive lies and live a life of obedience to truth.We are not merely learning religious truths for the sake of knowing ideas.  The ideas have practical ramifications, and it is the ramifications, the ends of the ...  Read More

What are we trying to build?  What kind of church do we want to be?I started with evangelism and noted that, at least as Jesus and the apostles did it, it was not focused on one’s eternal destiny but on following Christ. Calling people to follow Jesus involves more than throwing a few “magic” words at them.  We must interact within the context of their life situation, presenting Jesus’ claims and ...  Read More

The first Sunday in October we’ll be going to two services, and I’d like to share a few thoughts about making that adjustment.First, this is an experiment.  The tentative plan is to run two services until the end of May 2024 and then return to a single service format for the summer.  This will give us an opportunity to assess what works and what doesn’t – and whether we need to return to two servi...  Read More