The New Testament places significant emphasis on music as part of the “one another” aspects of the Christian life. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. (Colossians 3:16) One of the most regular times that Christians use music to teach and admonish one another is in the corporate worship services of the local church. And the musicians—vocal and instrumental—who serve in this ministry can greatly enhance this part of a service. In a recent meeting w ..read more

Woke is an odd word—and not just because it is a past tense verb that is now commonly used as an adjective. It’s odd because it has vague connotations without clear definitions. This ambiguity allows those who appreciate the word’s implications to write off those who criticize its implications as “just not understanding its meaning.”  In conversations like this, clarity is always our friend. That’s why I was thankful when someone from our Sheriff’s Department recently asked me what I meant in using the word woke. This individual is not a believer, and I was happy to answer his question f ..read more

The apostle Paul’s solemn charge to Timothy was to “preach the Word.”  Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. (2 Timothy 4:2) Biblical preaching and teaching is the expounding of the Word of God to a world that needs to hear it. Of course, the gospel is our central message in preaching. But pastors are also to declare “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27) as the expound Scripture to their church family.  I have been preaching now for just over forty years. This is God’s calling on my life and is one of the ..read more

1. Avoid an uncertian sound. Don’t engage in activities or associations that make your testimony for Christ unclear. “For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8). 2. Let not your good be evil spoken of. Be willing to limit your Christian liberty to avoid causing a stumbling block to others. “Let not then your good be evil spoken of” (Romans 14:16). 3. Do not make a major decision without godly counsel. I have sought men who are my seniors to ask counsel of for significant decisions. “Where no counsel is, the people fall: but ..read more

With each new year, I find myself more earnestly desiring to live each day wholly for Christ and to fulfill His calling on my life.  As I pray for our church family and friends around the globe, my prayer for each of you is that God would give you the clarity, grace, and courage to pursue Him in this new year and that it would be a fruitful year to His glory! One of the things I love about the dawning of a new year is the natural momentum it carries and the opportunity for setting goals and revitalizing the important areas of our lives.  As we look forward to 2024, I wanted to share ..read more

Pastors are surrounded by stress-inducing circumstances. Whether it be the uncivil culture in which we minister, family burdens, financial pressure, dealing with problems in the church, or any number of other factors, stress is a daily reality for pastors.  But if stress is a daily realty for pastors, the availability of God’s grace is too. Jesus told us, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In this new episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, I shar ..read more

Several days ago, our church hosted our annual World Impact Missions Conference. One of our guest speakers for the conference was Dr. Kevin Folger, who is the North American Director for Spiritual Leadership Asia. The Spiritual Leadership Asia initiative has grown as God has continued to open amazing doors of opportunity for ministry in some of the most spiritually-needy places of the world. In this short bonus episode of the Spiritual Leadership Podcast, Dr. Folger and I discuss the three aspect of Spiritual Leadership Asia and share how you can pray for billions of souls in the 10/40 window ..read more

The name Shubal Stearns is familiar to students of Baptist history. And it is familiar to the church family at Buffalo Ridge Baptist Church, where I preached yesterday.  Shubal Stearns was saved under the preaching of George Whitfield during the American Great Awakening.  After his salvation, Stearns, through study of Scripture, became a Baptist. A few years later, in 1755, he planted the Sandy Creek Baptist Church in North Carolina. As Stearns preached the gospel, God blessed, and what became known as the Sandy Creek Revival swept the region. Within three years, the church had bapt ..read more

One of the highlights to me of World Impact Missions Conference at Lancaster Baptist Church is seeing missionaries who grew up at Lancaster Baptist and/or graduated from West Coast Baptist College and and are now serving the Lord on mission fields around the world. (The picture above is of WCBC alumni who were here for Missions Conference ’23 earlier this week and are now planting churches around the world.)  The Lord has allowed us to see many young people from our own church family—kids who grew up right here in our Sunday school classes and, in many cases, whose parents trusted Christ ..read more

From the early moments of church history, we see glimpses of the kind of leaders the Lord desires to be present within His church.  Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. (Acts 6:3) That phrase “look ye out among you” is significant because it shows that these qualities are not to be present in pastors only but also among godly Christians within a local church family.  As a pastor, I have emphasized the developing of biblical leaders that passionately model the life of Christ ..read more