One of the men in the church I serve mentioned something to me that I had never thought of before. He said that music played during prayer distracted and confused him. Whether it was the keyboards lightly played or a guitar quietly picked, it was distracting to his focus upon and attention to the prayer. […]
One of themselves, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.” This testimony is true. Titus 1:12-13 Even as there were secular prophets in Paul’s day who had their finger on the pulse of a generation, whose testimony was true, so we have secular prophets today to whom we […]
I am reading Roger Olson’s “Against Calvinism.” It is a well researched and well reasoned exposition of the Biblical and logical flaws of that doctrine. It reminded me of a few ‘conundrums for Calvinists’ I wrote up a few years ago. Please allow me to present one of them to you. Implicit within the story […]
This is a rant. This is my rant. A rant is a verbal (or written) tantrum. A rant is not to be reasoned with because the one ranting is not in a frame of mind to be reasoned with. A rant can be filled with logical mistakes, historical fallacies, and spiritual foolishness and yet serve […]
I was speaking with a couple of friends and one mentioned a book he was reading that spoke of the Image centered church of the Middle Ages and the Word centered church emerging from the Reformation. The church of the Middle Ages employed Image by reason of societal illiteracy and its own theological presuppositions and […]
I called Calvary Costa Mesa in 1985 and told them that I would like to affiliate the church I pastored with Calvary Chapel. They said, “Great, we’ll put you on the list.” I’ve been a Calvary pastor ever since. I know, times have changed. I had used the New American Standard Bible since January of […]
The last 30 years of political involvement by the evangelical movement has left me jaded and cynical. The failed agenda of the Moral Majority and all its various spawn over the last three decades should bring us to a critical examination of evangelical thinking about the nature of government. According to Romans 13, the purpose […]
You’ve heard of Air Guitar, but have you heard of Air Prayer? They are alike in significant ways. WIKIPEDIA describes Air Guitar as – … a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs/solos/etc. Air guitar is generally used in the imaginary simulation of loud electric guitar […]
Bill Waldens’ post of last week (We Played the Flute for You) got me to thinking about the pastoral longevity that is tied to spiritual sanity that is anchored in Biblical vision. I can’t recall the stats, but it appears that many men are leaving the pastorate and, in addition, there is a sizable number […]
My city, outside of Afghanistan and refugee camps in Pakistan, hosts the third largest Afghan population in the world (30,000 – 40,000 depending on who you ask). My home is a ½ mile from Little Kabul – an area of kabob restaurants and Afghan owned businesses. Four doors down from the church is the Ibrahim […]