The Snake Crusher and the God of Peace

  The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once called ministers of the gospel of grace to stake their lives on the truth and righteousness of Christ: “The want of the period is brethren who know the gospel for themselves,…

Home for the Holidays

About five minutes after our oldest child left for college, our middle child moved himself into his brother’s downstairs bedroom. This was a settled plan, as our middle son’s prior arrangements “forced” him to share a bathroom with…

Heaven Has No Borders: On God’s Kingdom, Advent, and Caravans

As student pastors, it’s important to model compassionate but critical civic engagement. YouTube-pundits and partisan media are catechizing our teenagers toward vitriolic, ungenerous, no-benefit-of-the-doubt  monologues. Depending on which channel you watch, secular conservatism shouts catcalls of “soy boy,”…

Out of Egypt, I Have Called My Son

In 1969, Mick Jagger penned the following profound words: “Take me to the station and put me on a train; I’ve got no expectations to pass through here again.” These lyrics from the Stones, jointly entitled “No Expectations,”…

Top Ten – November ’18

Here are the top ten articles from the past month that can be of benefit to youth workers and parents in their ministry to teenagers. Some of these give explicit instruction on gospel-centered ministry, while others are included…

He Shall Be Called

While living in Central Asia or many years, it was commonplace for people to ask me the meaning of my name. In the culture around me, given names were always significant. Before having a baby, there would be…

Christ Came For Our Coal

Christmas season presents a unique time to nudge our children into believing in the unbelievable. Many parents choose to add Santa Claus into the tradition of Christmas. At a young age, children are delighted to discover that the…