A Baptist preacher told this story to his congregation one Sunday: When God walked into heaven and found everyone there, he decided it was too crowded. He owed it to justice, did he not, to reward those who were faithful? So, he had one of his angels read the ten...
Jesus was short on sermons, long on conversations; short on answers, long on questions; short on abstraction and propositions, long on stories and parables; short on telling you what to think, long on challenging you to think for yourself.
How many sermons about the women of the Bible did you hear when you were being nurtured into the faith? How many sermons about Miriam or Deborah or Huldan? Or Ruth or Esther? How many sermons about Mary or Priscilla or Phoebe or Junia? Or Philip's daughters?
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken. This beatitude cannot be found in Matthew 5's listing, but it certainly has clear biblical principle behind it. Dr. David Schroeder, in his study on discipleship, asserts that discipleship is not so much about...
Every act of worship should be understood as part of the Church's offering to God. "Any action that does not meet with that qualification does not deserve to be a part of a worship experience." [C. Weldon Gaddy, The Gift of Worship] All the music, from prelude to...
I was fifteen years old when I felt called to preach. My home church pastor said that I should get as much experience as possible. Obviously, there was not a great demand for fifteen-year-old novices who were long on enthusiasm but short on skill. So, my pastor sent...
I am convinced that congregations learn more theology (good and bad) from the songs they sing than from the sermons they hear. Many sermons are doctrinally sound and contain a fair amount of biblical information, but they lack that necessary emotional content that...
Songwriters and music publishers play important roles in the theological formation of a congregation—even more than the pastor. I’m pretty sure people don’t catch themselves humming the sermon during the week.
At times a choir may sing to or for a congregation of worshipers, but God remains the ultimate audience. However, a presentation from a choir can qualify as Christian proclamation every bit as much as a sermon. Intended as a gift to God, such a musical declaration is...
Since worship is focusing on and responding to God, regardless of what else we are doing we are not worshiping if we are not thinking about God. You may be listening to a sermon, but without thinking of how God’s truth applies to your life and affects your...