Then said Evangelist, 'If this by thy condition, why standest thou still?' He answered, 'Because I know not where to go.' -Pilgrim's Progress Been There, Done That, Thank God Thirty one years ago I asked for help, and I got it. Continue Reading
April 24, 2015
Reparative Therapy: What it Is, What it Isn’t, Why it Matters (Part One of a Five Part Series)
April 7, 2015
The Compartmentalizer
"If you follow a universal principle, it positively impacts all areas of your life. Universal principles don't compartmentalize." -Steve Pavlina Year after year, I hear wives agonize over the choices their husbands made. “What was he thinking?” they’ll cry, “and how could he do a thing like that if he loved me?” Continue Reading
March 20, 2015
Newsong Church: In Tune or Off Key?
In the screwball comedy classic Bringing Up Baby, Cary Grant, dressed in a woman’s bathrobe, jumps up and down shouting, “I’ve suddenly gone gay!” He could have been speaking for a growing number of congregations today. Continue Reading
March 12, 2015
Love Thy Jerk
“We don’t devote enough scientific research to finding a cure for jerks.” - Bill Watterson Continue Reading
January 29, 2015
Mad at Dad
Please Note: I got knocked down with a serious bug this weekend in New Hampshire which has had me flat on my back all week. So thanks for bearing with me, and my posts will be back on a regular schedule now. I'm at the age when I, and many of my friends, are standing at the dock with our parents. They're getting ready to board and we're reluctantly facing it, while reflecting on how much they mean to us, and how surprisingly huge their role in our lives has turned out to be. All of which gets me thinking about fathers and sons. Dads figure Continue Reading
January 16, 2015
Dropping the S-Bomb
“Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” - Proverbs 27:6 37 years ago I was hugely backslidden. Since I’d been in full time ministry before my fall, quite a few people had known me and were, I’m sure, perplexed and angry at my rebellion. Some of them contacted me, in person or by mail, trying to reason with me and persuade me to turn back, and I cannot describe how weird and miserable that felt. Continue Reading
December 11, 2014
It’s In The Cards
The volume of Christmas cards coming into our home has gone way down, year after year, replaced by online greetings, which are now the norm. Continue Reading
November 10, 2014
“Tear Down This Wall”
Walls work both ways. Some keep enemies out, guarding the freedom and safety of the citizens, while others make captives out of free men. The difference is in the purpose. One wall protects; the other enslaves, and the contrast between a fortress and a prison is a mighty big one. So it was with real joy that we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s demise yesterday. Erected in 1961 and intact until 1989, it prevented East Germans from leaving their Communist society, while claiming to protect the very people it imprisoned. Continue Reading
October 29, 2014
Amazing Grays
Our local paper ran a feature story awhile back, written by a self-identified evangelical Christian and titled “There is Something in the Air. Can You Feel It? Grace.” Great start. Nothing turns me on like a consideration of God’s grace because, after all, where would I be without it? But then it all went downhill, as the article celebrated the growing acceptance of same sex marriage, even among believers, as evidence of a “great grace awakening.” She went so far as to call it a Third Great Awakening which is “broader” than traditional Continue Reading
August 7, 2014
Friend, Interrupted
A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. - Arnold H. Glasow Robert was amazing; a young leader gifted with insight, passion and astonishing charisma. I first met him in 1971 when he was leading a home Bible study, and though he was barely twenty one years old at the time, he taught with an authority years beyond his age. I hooked up with his ministry team; in eight months I was on staff full time. Continue Reading
Follow Joe