When I was in college, I was active in InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Through my involvement with IVCF, I learned how to do an inductive Bible study. It is a great tool to allow a passage of Scripture to speak for itself.

Fast forward to today. In our small group at church, we are getting ready to start an inductive Bible study. My co-leader and I thougth that it would be good to teach our group this tool as a way to study the Bible. We introduced the topic last night at our meeting. It turns out that none of the other participants had ever been taught how to do an inductive Bible study. I wonder whether anyone has ever taught any of them how to study the Bible other than to just read a passage? Continue Reading »

Have a happy thanksgiving. It is a great time to spend with family and remember all that God has done for each of us.

Psalm 100

1 Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!

2 Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

3 Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

5 For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

Jonathan Dodson, a church planter from Austin, Texas has posted about 6 ways to engage our culture.

1. Engage culture prayerfully;
2. Engage culture carefully;
3. Engage culture biblically-theologically;
4. Engage culture redemptively;
5. Engage culture humbly; and
6. Engage culture selectively. Continue Reading »

Well, we had the rite of passage for Josh this past Friday. It is over, and I still can’t decide what to call it. It has been called a manhood ceremony, a transition from childhood, a milestone, a rite of passage. Mostly, I have just called it the event.

We had ten guys take time from their families on a Friday night to show up and encourage Josh towards adulthood. My dad and cousin were there. The youth pastor for the youth group that Josh goes to, and seven guys from church, including the pastor and most of the leadership team. Most of these guys have kids of their own; they all are married; and, they all care enough about Josh to show up, encourage him, give him advice, and pray for him. As Josh’s dad, I thought it was amazing as I sat and listened as each of the guys spoke to Josh about how proud they were of him, and gave him a little advice for the coming teenage years.

Continue Reading »

I am attaching a sermon that a friend of mine gave a few years ago. He asked me to import it from a cassette tape. I am posting it here so that he can download it. Plus, it gave me an excuse to add an audio player to the blog.

Download the sermon by right-clicking on the link:

The Relevant Church