First it was Youcef Nadarkhani and now it is Saeed Abedini. For over two years now, certain media elements, Fox News in particular, have been on an unrelenting binge of feeding the United States public news of two Christian pastors jailed in Iran. As my wife and I have been in the process of...

It was Easter Sunday in 1972.  My grandfather was preparing to sing an Easter cantata with his church choir when he suffered a stroke and collapsed.  On the following Sunday, he went to be with the Lord.  I never met my grandfather, but I’ve heard countless stories from my mother about...

I have been waiting to review one of my favorite movies from 2012 for quite some time, Cabin in the Woods. As soon as I saw it I knew I needed to blog about it, and more importantly, I knew I needed to review it this week—Holy week. Perhaps you’re thinking, this is totally random; why...

1.     Discipleship is about a Relationship Michael Wilkins has defined a disciple of Jesus as one who “has come to Jesus for eternal life, has claimed Jesus as Savior and God, and has embarked upon the life of following Jesus.”[1] His very presence in my life and his promise to never...

In preparation for our Ecclesia and Ethics conference (ecclesiaethics.com), we’re putting together a few video interviews to raise interest and excitement. Check out this short interview we did with Shane Claiborne. For some reason the video didn’t record, but the audio is great....

I don’t remember ever saying this, but here goes. I’ve never been more confident of my salvation. I’ve never felt so secure. I’ve never been so satisfied in Christ. And yet, at the same time, I’m more aware of my sin, ready to acknowledge it, even willing to tell people about...

Discussion about effective models for Muslim evangelism hath no shortage of opinion. For many years now, debates have raged in missiological circles about the how and what of evangelism to Muslims. How should we go about communicating the gospel to Muslim peoples? What should we say to them?...

As a student of the New Testament, I am one of those odd characters who enjoys the minutia of grammatical details in the original languages and especially their interpretative significance.  Yet what motivates me in working through the details is primarily a genuine application of...

A pastor once told me that God’s people are simply pawns in his ultimate plan to glorify himself. Seriously. He said “pawns.” That would be a great metaphor if chess players actually loved their pawns, but they don’t. The world’s greatest chess player never loved his pawns, much less...

I am notorious for listening to Christmas music at any time of year.  This produces a gamut of responses from utter disparaging of the thought to confessions of similar behavior.  My reason is never an attempt to sustain the festivities long past their due.  Rather, I am deeply and...