9 Questions for Personal Accountability
According to Patrick Morley, “accountability is to be regularly answerable for the key areas of our lives to qualified people.” Charles Swindoll adds, “Accountability is giving a few trusted persons the permission to ask you the hard questions.” Tim serves this...
7 QUESTIONS FOR SPIRITUAL GIFT DISCOVERY
As a mentor, church staff member, or small group leader, one of your privileges is to add to the Lord’s labor force by helping others discover their spiritual gifts. What follows is a list of 7 questions you can use with a protégé, in a new members’ class, with a...
6 BENEFITS OF A TEACHER OR LEADER’S TRANSPARENCY
Do the positive effects of a leader’s transparency outweigh the disadvantages? A transparent leader isn’t pretentious. With discretion, he shares personal stories from his spiritual pilgrimage, and how the truths he’s teaching affect him. In the company of...
7 GUIDELINES FOR TRANSPARENCY IN TEACHING AND PREACHING
Something is transparent when you can see through it. A person is transparent when he isn’t pretentious, when he discloses setbacks as well as victories. He’s called real because he doesn’t mask everything that is going on inside. His prayer requests are...
6 THINGS I’VE LEARNED ABOUT BIBLE LESSON AND SERMON PREPARATION
1. Prepare my heart, not just my head. I ask God’s Spirit to encourage, convict, or move me to action as needed. I use the text to inform a time of prayer before I start thinking about how to teach it. When something in the text moves me to tears, prompts...
Where are the Tears?
I heard the question 30 years ago. To say I cannot forget it is the classic understatement. To this day the question and the remarks that preceded it roil around in my mind, goading me, instilling discomfort. David Mains was speaking at a Bible conference on the...
Whatever Happened To Shame?
Is a sense of shame always a bad thing? Many Bible teachers and counselors reply with a resounding “Yes!” There’s no place for shame in a Christian’s life, they insist. Thanks to forgiveness, and to our right standing with God owing to justification, we shouldn’t...
A Reason Not To Take My Own Life
I pleaded with him. To no avail, as it turned out. Ronnie * (not his real name) and I were on the patio behind my house. He was a 31-year-old divorcee with two young girls who adored him. Chronically depressed, he had tried a couple times to take his own life....
The Most Dangerous Kind of False Teaching
Scene 1 He boldly claims that the viewer will receive a transfer of wealth from the world to their bank accounts. Debts will dissolve, they’ll get their dream house or a new car—and healing from debilitating disease to boot. If only… If only they’ll call and...
The limits of a Bible Teacher’s “Anointing”
Occasionally I make the mistake of clicking my TV remote to see what is on various “Christian” channels. Once I paused during a sermon on faith, delivered by the pastor of an upscale mega church. He’s handsome, poised, articulate. Networks beam his messages...
Not All That Sounds “Spiritual” Really Is
Incredulous. That describes my reaction when I heard the renowned TV preacher say it. He isn’t among the materialistic media personalities who propagate a prosperity gospel in order to line their own pockets. His sermons accentuate sin, the cross, and a need for...
Why i’m blogging
Welcome To My Blog and Website The last time I needed a jump was at a remote parking lot at the Charlotte, North Carolina airport. Arriving near midnight, exhausted from an overseas teaching stint and long flight, I was eager to get going on the 100-mile drive to...
