Most of the hospitals in our country are named after religious people or holy places. This was an observation made by a comedian who asked the question of whether you would feel comfortable going to a supposed place of science which had its roots in religion. His point was that a place named after...

I went with my family last summer to see the new Fred Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Overall it was an excellent film, and we enjoyed it very much. As I said in my night-of tweet thread, you and I could quibble with portions of it—the filmmaker seems intent...

"Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way."-- Psalm 119:37

There are divers kinds of vanity. The cap and bells of the fool, the mirth of the world, the dance, the lyre, and the cup of the dissolute, all these men know to be vanities; they wear upon their forefront...

But he replied to one of them, “Friend I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me. Or do you begrudge me my...

This post is part of a series by Dr. Chipman. You can read Part 1 here. 

If you plan to foster or adopt a child in the coming months, you can set yourself in the right path by cultivating five relationships along the way. See this process as part of your training for welcoming children into...

There is literally nothing better than listening to presidential campaign promises. Wait. That’s literally not true at all is it? Every four years Americans are afforded the opportunity to watch debates, commercials, and rallies in which presidential candidates make one promise after another...

Have you read a good biography or autobiography lately? If not, there are good reasons why you should. Bible teacher and author John Piper testifies:

When you are surrounded by a society of emotionally fragile quitters, and when you see a good bit of this ethos in yourself, you need to spend time...

When was the last time someone said to you, “You deserve better”? Or when did you last think, I don’t deserve this…?

These are common statements in American culture. We’re told by the media, and by society at large, that we’re entitled to certain...

My soul was eternally secure, though doubts and fears raged at times. I believed my theology was sound, though I still had many questions. There I was on my knees again in tears because of the brokenness of my life and the sinfulness of my heart waging war against the new self that I was...

In John Stott’s classic Between Two Worlds, he depicted the preacher as a man positioned between two civilizations—tasked to bridge the ancient world with the modern one, and the ancient text with modern hearers.

Stott argued that the preacher is a bridge, and if he is to be...

On a number of occasions, I have crossed paths with instructors of the Bible, whether they be a Sunday School teacher or professor in a Bible college, who disapprove of historic creeds and confessions and their use within the church. This suspicion (sometimes repudiation) of historic creeds,...

The Lord called me to preach in 1951. I preached my first sermon one week later at the First Baptist Church of Mixon, TX. Carol Ann and I were called to our first church 4 weeks after we married in 1956. My grandfather, L.M. Keeling, preached for 54 years before his death. My father, James T....

Lately I’ve had numerous discussions with ministry leaders about why it’s so difficult to find truly gospel-centered preaching. Even among those who otherwise affirm the biblical necessity of prioritizing Christ in our preaching, it is sometimes rare to encounter sermons that do not...

I’ve been thinking a lot about rest recently. Mostly because I am in a season right now where rest seems elusive and hard to come by. If I’m being honest, rest is something that is often on my mind. As a mom of three, I crave rest, longing for just a few minutes of uninterrupted...

How to Love a Prodigal Son or Daughter

Ed Stetzer writes about the struggles of a child who isn't following Jesus. He encourages parents to trust in God's sovereignty. 

I Lost Mom, but I’ll Never Lose the Church

After losing his mom, Ronni Kurtz reflects on the comfort he found in the...

"The iron did swim."-- 2 Kings 6:6

The axe-head seemed hopelessly lost, and as it was borrowed, the honour of the prophetic band was likely to be imperilled, and so the name of their God to be compromised. Contrary to all expectation, the iron was made to mount from the depth of the stream and to...

“The whole story is the meaning.” - Flannery O’Connor

In college I worked at my university’s recruitment office and was often paired with the same young woman for office hours, we will call her “Kendra.” There were days with more downtime than others so...

Recently I have been reflecting on the process of foster care and adoption. My wife and I began the foster-to-adopt journey in August 2014. In November 2017 we adopted two girls out of the Missouri foster care system. Fostering and adopting has opened my eyes to the needs of kids around the globe...

Friendships are an amazing discovery in life, but strong friendships don’t just spring from nothing. Friendships require wise effort. They require forging. And, in his grace, God has given us wisdom in the book of Proverbs to understand this forging process.

A good summary always helps. No one...

As a young teen, one of my favourite pastimes when the wind blew strong from the north was to head down to the jagged shoreline near my home and cling to a rock.

Don't judge; there wasn't a lot to do in my sleepy coastal town!

My mates and I would head down to the beach, find a spot where...

In January, I begin my twenty-fourth year as founding and current pastor of my church here in northwest Houston.

Statistics reveal that lasting this long in one church is rare. Thom Rainer and George Barna state that a pastor’s average tenure in a local church is about four years.^[1] Rainer...

Remember when doing pre-marital counseling with young couples regarding sex involved a brief warning about temptation and supplementing their education about the birds and the bees that their staid or embarrassed parents had neglected to mention?

Yeah, me neither.

If you’re reading this...

Most people want to make a difference.

Many people want to serve.

A large portion of people say they want to change lives.

Honest people admit they want to be a world changer or key player.

Most of us think this comes from immense talent. We think that to be the person that makes a difference we need...

In the mid-18th century, Henry Scougal wrote, “True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the Divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul, or in the apostle’s phrase, ‘it is Christ formed within us’.”^[1] Amen, Brother...

In my study at church, just above my desk, hangs a wood-crafted plaque with older English words from 2 Timothy 2:15: “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” The plaque formerly hung in the study of Gleason...