Pastor Retreats
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Latest Leadership Content
The Importance of “All”
To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it (1 Corinthians 9:22-23 NASB).
Eight Reasons to Abstain from Sexual Immorality (in Any Form)
It’s been a problem since the beginning of time. The rise of Internet availability has made it incredibly more accessible, but lust has always been one of Satan’s most powerful tools to mar the image of God in us. Paul was intense about this because he understood the nature of the human mind and the deadliness of this particular sin. He always tells us to abstain, flee, run, get away by any and every means. Why?
Creating Environments for Encountering God
Everything flows from the presence of the Lord. Everything. If you have Him, you have everything you need. Without Him—His life, presence, provision, and power—you have nothing of importance. Our greatest concern as pastors should be simply this: Are we personally encountering God daily?
The Boldness We Need
The rapid spread of the church in the New Testament can only be attributed to two things: the gracious, miraculous activity of the Holy Spirit, and the bold witness of His followers. If God had not moved, nothing would have happened. If believers had not shared the gospel, the movement would have stalled.
Sacred Anointing
In His sovereignty, God has ordained preaching as a primary means of transforming lives. He has graciously given us creation, His Word, and most dramatically, Himself, in the person of His Son, so that we might know Him. By these three means God sufficiently reveals Himself.
The Testing of God
It would seem that the propensity of God to test His children is unloving. But in reality, it is one of the greatest demonstrations of His love for us. God is not out to always give us the most comfortable life. If He was, we would grow soft, unusable, and inherently self-absorbed.
What Happens When God Comes
It is one of the ways of God. Periodically in history, He opens the windows of heaven and comes down with His manifest presence. We call these moments revival as they affect the church, and spiritual awakening, as they impact people without Christ. Spiritual results happen at an accelerated pace and with stunning results. These outpourings bring a course correction to nations, and most importantly, they glorify God.
The Cycle of Revival
“Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love” (Robert Robinson, 1758). The hymn writer captured in a sentence what is universally true of man. Our humanity is weak, the devil is strong, and the world pulls us relentlessly away from God. Even those who have come into a relationship with Christ still wander at times.
How to Advance the Work of God During a Confusing Pandemic
Every pastor and spiritual leader I know is experiencing waves of discouragement and confusion during this COVID-19 pandemic. Leaders lead. They want to move the ball forward and get things done. Spiritual leaders want to see the kingdom advance. No true man or woman of God wants to just survive. To get by. To merely tread water. To see the work of God slowed or even stopped.
How Do We Respond to a Broken Nation?
It is a tragic thing to watch a nation digress. The youngest of those who live in our nation today cannot possibly remember anything different. But many of us can. We remember a nation, not long ago, where …
The God Who Meets With Us
One of the great mysteries of God is that He meets with us. This has happened since the beginning of time, as God walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day in the Garden He had created for them. Until they chose to go their own way, they enjoyed unhindered, intimate communion with Him.
The Divine Pronoun
We are most often the central subject of our thoughts and conversation. This preoccupation indicates a self-observed life, which is our greatest problem. Worried about what people think of who we are, what we look like, and what we’ve done, we unconsciously place the “I” in the forefront.
The Unseen Source of All Knowledge
Who is the smartest person in the world? Regardless of the list you would compile, no one would come close to a 30-year-old Hebrew slave named Joseph. But it is vital to understand the source of Joseph’s wisdom and knowledge.
Four Things to Do About Racism and Riots
In 1996 I began to pastor New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Georgia. The population around our church was significantly black, but our church was not. I embarked on a journey to see that change. It was not an easy task. As our church became more diverse, I began to encounter opposition I had never experienced before. Our family even received death threats! At one point I was so discouraged and angry that I went to my friend and mentor Crawford Loritts and asked for his advice.
Reopen or Re-start Church?
Revival must change our hearts AND our actions. A global pandemic … racism, hatred, killing … our nation on fire … And the Supreme Court has allowed government authority to have over churches. Churches are not seen as essential now because they have not acted essentially in the past. We don’t really need churches to reopen. We need them to restart—different than they used to be.
God’s Willingness to Hear
The loss of hearing is debilitating. Our ears are one of the primary gates that give us the ability to know and respond to everything. The eyes, the nose, the mouth all aid us, as well as the sense of touch. But hearing is foundational. There are different levels of hearing. We hear thousands of sounds every day with no response. Our minds are conditioned to tune much of this out. We’ve labeled it “background noise.”
The God Who Relaxes Our Grip
It begins in the crib. We hold things tightly, like a pacifier or toy. Progressing through each stage of life, we always find a new object to grasp: a baseball bat, a diploma, keys to car or home, our wallet, a job, a relationship, our independence. The objects are endless. If we will follow Christ, He will gently but firmly be about the business of showing us anything we are holding tightly that is detrimental to our lives and His purpose.
The Church After Lockdown (Part 2)
Last week, I began this series of blogs by suggesting three questions for every Christian to consider as we navigate forward in reopening churches: What should never restart in your church? How important is the concept of safety in your church? When does honoring government dishonor God? Obviously, there are many other questions that need to be considered. But today, I simply want to suggest that one question may rise above all of them as the most important: WHY should your church reopen?
The Church After Lockdown
“Let us be concerned about one another … not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do” (Hebrews 10:24-25 HCSB). This seems pretty clear, doesn’t it? There are good reasons to miss corporate worship. But we are not to miss it habitually. No, this verse was not written during a global pandemic; but it was written against the backdrop of severe suffering. Then and now, wherever Christians face persecution, they endanger themselves, their families, and others every time they meet. Yet they meet anyway.
Do Our Prayers Move God?
In human history there are always constant waves of sin and obedience, blessing and judgment. King David had known an incredible forty years as a leader who ruled in the fear of God and with great humility. Correspondingly, God had granted the Israelites four decades of blessing and victory against their enemies.