Elizabeth Esther writes: I don’t trust pastors. I want to trust them – but I’ve experienced so much church-related devastation that I doubt if I can ever again believe the best about their motives, preaching or how they conduct their lives. My trust is utterly broken. Still, the last thing I want to do is pass that disillusionment on to my children. I don’t want to cheat them of having a solid faith identity simply because Mommy can barely sit through a sermon without having a panic attack. I know of families who drop their kids at church while they go have coffee or run...

Is my church afraid of sin or inspired by it? In what way do we respond to the need of Christ in our community? People respond to a threat in one of two ways: fight or flight. When we chose to run away we gain security by avoidance. When we chose to combat the threat we risk victory over loss. Sin is the greatest threat to all of humanity. It is not the root of all evil, it IS all evil. What does my church do in response to this peril? Are we motivated to gain security or rick victory? These two values typify many churches today. Their entire modus operandi consists of keeping sin out or taking sin...

Ponder if you will the state of our world; and in particular the condition of America. Although one can easily argue the United States is still the greatest nation in the world and a country so many desire to come to— even risk their lives to enter into—there is no denying America’s social, moral and spiritual fabric continues to deteriorate at an accelerated pace. For many this is an alarming and discouraging trend. Now consider the fact that 76% of Americans claim to be Christian, making the United States one of the highest per-capita Christian nations in the world. A nation full of...

Tony Myles writes:  I once worked in a job where I feared for my job… everyday. And I wasn’t alone. It wasn’t because of the economy, and it wasn’t because we were all bad employees. It was because our boss was insecure and came across like a lion to everyone. He was someone who only cared about the idea of success than in creating the environment for it. I’ve been in the exact opposite situation, though. I’ve served in church staff teams where we were so inspired by the character and direction of our main leader that we climbed over ourselves to be a part of what...

Should Hollywood and the Christian world ever collaborate and work together on faith-based films?  Such an effort is being made with the feature film Les Miserables.  Matt Steen and Todd Rhoades discuss whether or not this a good thing. According to CNN: The story in “Les Miserables” is heavy with Christian themes of grace, mercy and redemption. The line everyone seems to remember is “to love another person is to see the face of God.” NBC Universal looked to capitalize on those components and promoted the film to pastors, Christian radio hosts and influence-makers in the Christian...

First Baptist Church Hammond voted to accept John Wilkerson as its new pastor Sunday evening. Wilkerson follows Jack Schaap, who left First Baptist Hammond last year after admitting to having sexual contact with a 16-year-old girl and transporting her across state lines to have sex with her (a federal offense).  Schaap is currently awaiting sentencing. According to news reports: Wilkerson graduated from Hyles-Anderson in 1989 and taught at the church’s City Baptist Schools for a year before moving to California to teach at a Baptist school in Long Beach. He became principal of Calvary Christian...

Westboro Baptist Church just protests another funeral or event and makes national headlines.  Whether you like it or not… every time someone from Westboro Baptist Church goes out and does a protest with signs that read “God Hates Fags”, many people group them in with you and I as Christians. And every time someone speaks to the media as a Christian, some people look and you and me and automatically assume that we think the same exact thing. It could be on any issue: homosexuality, gun control… really any thing. Let’s face it… the likes of Westboro Baptist are really...

Can a sex offender be the senior pastor of a local church? One church in Texas has just hired Claude Gilliland III to be their new pastor… the problem is… Gilliland is a registered sex offender. When the local newspaper started printing the names and pictures of local sex offenders, imagine the surprise when his picture was listed. Matt Steen and I talk about their thoughts on this story… how much grace should be offered… etc. CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH Hiring a Sex Offender as Senior Pastor (Length:  6 min 45 sec) Subscribe to MinistryBriefing on YouTube What do YOU think?  Leave...

Pastor criticism. It’s amazing how many stupid comments people can make to church leaders. I’ve heard my fair share over the years… but I wonder… what are the things that have been said to you that are the most outlandish? Matt Steen and I discuss the 5 comments that pastors absolutely hate to hear. Taken from an article by John Ortberg at Leadership Journal: CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH video on Pastor Criticism:  5 Comments Pastors Hate to Hear (Length:  7 min 13 sec) Subscribe to MinistryBriefing on YouTube What do YOU think?  Leave a text or video comment...

Seth Godin says: Human beings, thanks to culture and genetics, are inclined to be pessimistic, fearful, skeptical and believers in conspiracy theories. We also don’t like change. Truth is… this describes the outlook of many churches as well. Matt Steen and I take a look inside this phenomena that causes churches, more often than not, to build their base on negativity. CLICK IMAGE TO WATCH VIDEO (Length:  6 min 02 sec) Subscribe to MinistryBriefing on YouTube What do YOU think?  Leave a text or video comment...