“God in the Form of a Slave”: Humility, Incarnation, and Feet Washing
At the beginning of his Gospel, John informs us of a major inflection point in human history when he writes that “the Word” who is God “became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:1, 14).[1] More appropriately, we might say that the incarnation was the major inflection point of human history. It was nothing less than an invasion of what Fernando F. Segovia terms the “world ‘above’” into the “world ‘below.’” The former refers to the...
Review of God in Eternity and Time: A New Case for Human Freedom by Robert E. Picirilli
In this succinct yet erudite work, Robert E. Picirilli brings a fresh perspective to the age-old debate regarding divine sovereignty and human freedom. That debate, as Picirilli views it, is often predicated “on the concept of God as formulated in metaphysical philosophy rather than on God as he reveals himself in the biblical narrative, mutually influencing and being influenced by the race of human beings he made to bear, or be, his...
Pentecostals in America: A Review
In little more than a century, Christianity has experienced the explosive growth of a new movement called Pentecostalism. This movement, which did not exist prior to the twentieth century, presently claims the affiliation of an estimated “279 million” people worldwide, according to Pew Research. Additionally, the Pentecostal-influenced charismatic movement comprises “305 million Christians in the world,” meaning that the two movements...
Relentless Ministry and Relying on Jesus: A Devotional Reflection on Mark 6:30–44
Over the past year and a half, the coronavirus pandemic brought myriads of challenges, heartaches, and headaches to everyone. For pastors and church leaders in particular, ministering in the midst of the pandemic proved frustrating. Luddite pastors like myself spent countless hours figuring out the technological means by which we might minister to our congregations (running a camera, building church websites, creating a social media...
The Community, the Call, the Comforter, and the Cure: A Pastoral Reflection on Anointing the Sick with Oil
Recently, a fellow pastor and I were discussing fruitful ways we have discovered to serve the sick in our congregations. Yet my friend was surprised by two narratives of ministering to the sick that I recounted for him. First, I spoke about one of my congregants who was bedridden with a cancer that began in her pancreas and rapidly spread throughout her body. Following one Sunday morning service, a deacon and I journeyed to her house...
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