Why We Don’t Read the Bible
You wake up ten minutes later than you had hoped and it starts: “What if I’m late? What about traffic? What time are my meetings today?” You finally make it to work, but your mind is elsewhere. You remember the family member who is struggling. Or you remember the difficult problem your kid is facing at school. You make it home, and, as you turn on the evening news, you start to worry about the economy and world events. You turn the...
Blueprints for Applied Theology
Timothy McVeigh committed one of the worst acts of domestic terrorism in U.S. history in the 1995 bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. This violent act killed 168 people and wounded several hundred. McVeigh was convicted and was executed by lethal injection in 2001. Many saw this execution as a “completion of justice,” while others protested because they opposed the death penalty in principle.[1] This event raised questions...
When Ministry and Seminary Collide
I never intended to pursue a Master of Divinity degree. It was an avenue that was made available to me by the grace of God, which I began pursuing in January of 2015. One course in particular that transformed my thinking was the Ethics of Wealth and Poverty with Dr. David Jones in the fall of 2015. In this class, I realized the necessity of bridging classroom studies with my personal life and public ministry. It was sobering to think...
The Value of Structured Discipleship
Occasionally, I hear the statement, “You don’t necessarily need a degree to be qualified for ministry.” As someone who has invested the last eight years of life in Christian higher education as a student, this assertion has always caught me off guard. The statement is most certainly true, but I fear the motivation behind the claim is often misguided. I must admit that most of my college studies have not led me to praise God. Not until...
Gospel Ordinances: Emblems of Grace
Joshua 4 stands as one of the more memorable scenes in Old Testament history. The nation of Israel just crossed the Jordan River, and was about to conquer Canaan. Before venturing further, Joshua instructed them to erect a memorial on Jordan’s riverbanks (4:7). These twelve memorial stones would serve as a reminder to those passing later of how God led them into the Promised Land by His grace. However, the book of Judges shows that...
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