1. Failure to work together and giving up when things get tough. Once the individual tribes received their allotment, there still were areas to conquer. Though a few of the tribes joined together to help each other, most attempted to go it alone and only had limited success and gave up. [Judges 1:19, 21, 27, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34.]   2. Failure to teach their children the ways of the Lord. “That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors, After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord or the works he had done for Israel.” [Judges 2:10; see also 3:1-4]&n ..read more

“Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and harsh labor.”   [Exodus 6:9] Initially, the Israelites recognized Moses was sent from God, that God had heard their cries of suffering and was now going to lead them out of Egypt. But when Moses and Aaron go to Pharaoh and ask to leave, Pharaoh calls them “slackers” and increases their load of labor, requiring the same quota of bricks, but not giving them the straw to make them. Then, he has their overseers beat them because they are not “keeping up.”  The people go to Mose ..read more

Many times I have asked for prayer, some for others in need, illnesses, sometimes personal or family issues and I am always so grateful for the many that chose to join me.  Many requests come through Social Media and I join in praying for many of these.   Recently, I have been thinking about prayer and why do I ask for others to join me? Would God, Creator of the Universe and the King of kings and Lord of lords not hear the pleas of just one of His children? Of course He does! As we pray in faith and in line with His will, God promises to hear. When we share these requests with ..read more

Traditionally Lamentations was written by Jeremiah not long after Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed Jerusalem, the Temple and carried most of the inhabitants into exile, leaving only the poorest there.  The book is comprised of 5 songs of grief and lament about the state of the land and its people, written in acrostic form using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet to begin each verse. Song 3 is the highpoint, where grief is mixed with the hope in God’s character. Lamentations 3:19-24: {ז Zayin}19 Remember my affliction and my homelessness, the wormwood and the poison. 20 I continually remember ..read more

   This fall Kathy & I will be teaching a doctoral seminar in which we will be investigating (by using a survey) what elements of worship are people consider essential to sense that they have worshipped. If you are willing to help me, please complete the survey within the next two weeks  The survey is anonymous. The first part is information about the survey and our research, and a link to the survey follows.  If you have any questions, please let me know. Below is some information and FAQs to answer questions you might have. Thank you for your help! Study title: Worsh ..read more

1. That they would have a deep and consistent time in getting to know and trust God better; knowing that in asking that they are asking God to lead them through situations and circumstances that will stretch their faith. 2. A growing understanding that their worth is based not on their performance, but on what Christ has done in their lives so that their desire for excellence would grow out of gratitude and not from trying to prove they are better than others. 3. That they would realize that their gifts and talents are merely the frame around the picture of Christ’s nature and character tha ..read more

Worship leadership has a lot to do: planning and rehearsal the sets, working with the tech crew, working with the Pastor and others on the pastoral staff, not to mention, family, and one’s personal spiritual life. Criticisms abound and it seems like we just can’t add any more plates to keep spinning. Got that. Sometimes we really do need to stop and make sure we’re not just keeping the machine running, but that we are following biblical instructions. [Cue the picture of the Daddy madly assembling a Christmas toy 11:00 pm before Christmas morning and too busy to look at the instruction sheet ..read more

From the very beginning, John the Baptist recognized who Jesus was; even when John’s own followers were leaving to follow Jesus, his response, “He must increase; I must decrease,” showed the clarity of his understanding of his unique role with the Messiah. Yet, not long before his own death, suffering in prison, he sends some of his remaining followers to Jesus just to make sure; John’s idea of what Messiah was going to do didn’t seem to match with what he was hearing about Jesus. Most likely, he never envisioned imprisonment as part of is life and how his ministry would transition. Jesus reas ..read more

Father, we thank You and praise You for Who You are and for the gracious gift of a relationship with You through Christ Jesus, Your Son. We pray Jesus’ prayer that we would be “one as He and the Father” are one; We pray that our agenda would be repentance, brokenness, and weeping for our sins; We pray that we would not shred the body of Christ in the name of being right while seeking to build power and recognition for ourselves; We pray that we do would not fight over being “reformed” or not but that we would cry out to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in You and Your Word; We pray ..read more

 Yes, there are many neglected parts of worship leadership, but here is one that we may not hear much about because it touches an area that we can conveniently allow to slide by and ignore. [I am indebted to Dr. Jessica McMillan for the genesis of these thoughts when she was asked in an interview for faculty her thoughts on a call to ministry and worship leadership. Her response has stuck with me since that day: “First, I am called to make disciples.”  What follows is some thoughts her response has spurred in me.] Bypassing Discipleship I have no doubt that God called me into the wor ..read more