Are you really reading the top 11 reads of a first year seminary student? Hey, you did it to yourself. Either way, I hope you’ll add some of these to your 2023 reading list, and chat with me a bit about any of them. The re-reads of the year included…

One of mine and JonEllen’s favorite things to do while in other cities is to gather with a gospel preaching church in the area. We…

I am convinced this distinctive is what the purity and witness of a local church falls or stands on. One can point to many issues in local churches, and they typically trace back to the fact that unbelievers have taken charge and tarnished the witness of the gospel. It is…

As promised, I want to extend my thoughts concerning Baptist distinctives and their effects in my life. I experienced personal conversion at a Southern Baptist church that helped me grow in Christlikeness in unimaginable ways. At the same time, I noticed a trend the longer I stayed in SBC churches…

Martin Luther once said, “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does.” I want to make the same case about congregational singing. Although God commands Christian to sing, he does not need song to be God. There is already an endless choir of living creatures that never cease…

The gospel had a profound effect on me at a Sonic Drive-Inn in Russellville, AL, after some Southern Baptist friends shared it simply and concisely with me. It wasn’t glamorous. A week or so after I went to Calvary Baptist Church and came to faith in Christ at their youth…

“Any theology that does not lead to song is, at a fundamental level, a flawed theology.” – J.I. Packer Theology is for doxology. Theology that is for argument, arrogance, or knowledge alone is a flawed use of theology. Packer pressed further into this idea in the quote above. Not only…

Pray your theology. There’s a way to think about God in deep and systematic ways, and never delight in God. There’s a way to speak about what the mind is doing with God as a concept, and never speak about what God is doing with the mind as a person…

Your order of worship, liturgy, planning center order, bulletin, or whatever your church may call it, disciples your congregation. It is teaching them whether you want it to or not. How you begin your worship gathering will either point people to God or to man. How much scripture you read…