It's All Fired Up

A good friend of mine from seminary who has been a pastor for about 15 years recently shared a book with me. It is by the conservative pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, Timothy Keller. Keller is probably the most popular Reformed preacher in America today, and the book, his thirteenth, is Generous Justice. … More Generous Justice

A new TNT docu-series about race in America, American Race, hosted by NBA Hall of Fame legend, “The Round Mound of Rebound,” Charles Barkley, recently featured a conversation with the alt-right identitarian, Richard Spencer. For others like me who grew up watching “Sir Charles” dominate the boards, block shots, and somehow always find himself in … More Richard Spencer vs. Amos – a Lesson in False Prophets

Originally published on PracticingFamilies.com I am often amazed at the spiritual insight of my nearly four-year-old son. On a recent trip to the store, Ketch asked me, “Dad, what is most important in life?” This is not like the indefatigable “why?” after each level of explanation of reasons that a car needs gas or the … More Raising Kids in the Christian Faith

Surely people on both sides of the political spectrum have disliked and bad-mouthed one another for generations. This negative aspect of the democratic process is baked into our nation’s founding. The famous dirty campaigning of old friends, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, in which a president ran against his vice president, included some of the … More The return of the moderate, intelligent, kind Christian American patriot

An April 28, 2017 Washington Post editorial by Ed Stetzer, the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair at Wheaton College and Executive Director of the Billy Graham Center, is calling the demise of the mainline Protestant church. Pointing to demographical and beliefs assessments of Christians that show steep downward trends, Stetzer says 2039 could be the year … More Doctrine is not what’s killing the church, dogma is.

Pruning vegetable plants produces better yields, especially early in the season. The gardener pinches off early flowers, suckers, and leaves to force the plant to focus on building itself up so that it can produce and support more and better fruit during the season. For the novice gardener, pinching off those early fruits can feel … More First Fruits

Originally published on Practicing Families  Faith and gratitude are maidservants of each other. Without one you lose the other. For many parents however, the moments of glory do not balance out the fuzziness of parenting, and sometimes the fuzz becomes overwhelming. Fuzzy turns to foggy, foggy turns to fear, and fear to failure. With two kids, two working parents, and … More Not All There but Always There