Putting Leaves of Encouragement on Our Branches

We’re building a tree at our church. It’s not a big tree. It’s actually pretty small, but it’s the perfect size to serve as the centerpiece of our communion table. In fact, you can’t even quite call it a tree yet. It’s really just a...

Why Many Religious Folks Don’t Trust Their Leaders

A new poll out from Pew Research shows that only 17 percent of religiously affiliated Americans have “a great deal of confidence in religious leaders to act in the best interests of the public.” I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if only 17...

7 Actions That Will Nurture Your Distracted Soul

Information overload: You’ve experienced it, I’ve experienced it, and we all know it isn’t healthy. Constant updates. 24/7 cable news. Alerts on our smartphones. Text messages that scream for immediate attention. Endless Pinterest boards. Scrolling...

5 Lessons Learned by a Local Church Pastor

I’ve learned a number of lessons in my time serving as a local church pastor. Here are five of them: 1. Slow and steady wins the race. Our work as Christians is best described as a “long obedience in the same direction,” to quote Eugene Peterson. Our...