A Guest Post By Joshua Eggerson. I believe that the state of our youth ministries to a great degree shows a picture of the future of our churches. Additionally, statistics are increasingly showing that Millennials, those born between 1980-2005, are the most “unchurched” generation in American History and with that the most biblically illiterate. It is the task of youth pastors to present the Gospel to a generation of sceptics and relativists who see Jesus as one of many spiritual options. To combat this, the church doesn’t need “cooler youth ministry” but rather we need capable, competent and qualified men...

September 19-21, 2017, it will be my joy and privilege to host the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville (FL), where I serve as pastor. Cutting It Straight exists to train, model, and promote biblical preaching and teaching. This year there will be tracks for those who lead and serve in Christian Education (Sunday School), Worship & Arts, Women’s Ministry (including Ministers’ Wives), and Students Ministry. Yet our focus remains the same. We want to help all church leaders develop a biblical philosophy of ministry. Everyone should cut it straight! I am excited about...

How can I forgive myself? The most faithful response to this question is the reject it as an illegitimate question. The biblical teaching about forgiveness can be summarized in two main ideas: God forgives sinners freely, completely, and sacrificially. Ultimately, divine forgiveness is paid for by the cross of Christ. Christians must forgive those who wrong us, as God has forgiven us for the sake of Christ. That’s it. Sermon over. There is not third point. God has forgiven us and we must forgive others. Period. There are more than 125 direct references to forgiveness in the Bible. But the...

I spent two days this week on the campus on the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We were invited by David Miller, President of the 2017 SBC Pastors' Conference, as his team reviewed the conference. We were hosted by the NOTBS Caskey Center. Grateful for David Miller's kindness. And I am excited about leading the 2018 Pastors Conference! I wrote an article this week about a challenge every preacher will face at some time or another: Preaching Under Pressure  Make sure you check out the Tellis Chapman Interview. It is full of wisdom for pastors and preachers! This week's episode...

  I drove to my pastor’s office to tell him I was going to resign my church. He asked what did I plan to do next. I did not have a plan. I told him I may become a talk-show host. It didn’t matter. I just wanted out! I desired to get married, finish my education, and move on with my life and ministry. I had wasted enough of my youth in congregational conflict. My pastor told me he knew what the problem was. I just wanted to get up to preach one Sunday in peace. He warned me, however,...

It was a joy to preach "Marvelous Mondays" for Barry Crocker at the Cumming Baptist Church in Cumming, Georgia. I was originally scheduled to preach this meeting last week; but Pastor Crocker graciously moved my night back so that I would not miss Monday's session of the SBC Pastors' Conference in Phoenix last week. I am grateful for my friend Terry Brown, who preached the Midweek Services this week at Shiloh Church, as my family and I went on vacation. Check out my latest article: A Faithful Steward of My Other "Pulpit"  In this week's episode of The On Preaching...

The pastor lives under a divine charge to preach the word. He does not have the right to proclaim his own message. He is a herald assigned to declare the message of the King. Every pastor has multiple responsibilities. But the pastor’s primary, central, and definitive function is to preach the word of God. A faithful pastor will not compromise the centrality of the pulpit. It is my desire and determination to be a faithful pastor. Therefore, I strive to guard the dignity of the pulpit that has been entrusted to me. How I live, study, and preach are shaped...

Happy Father's Day!  My father - H.B. Charles - passed away Father's Day weekend, 1989. I still miss him deeply. Yet, there is a sense in which he is still with me. I thank God for my Dad and continue to learn from him after all these years. (READ: Lessons My Father Taught Me) Listen to my interview about my father with Family Life Today: A Father's Legacy Grateful for Steve Wagers and Adron Robinson for speaking at the Men's Conference at the Shiloh Church this weekend. Check out this week's podcast: On Preaching with Ray Pritchard. Jesse Johnson: It...

I have just returned from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Session in Phoenix, Arizona. It was a busy but blessed week. Having preached five times Sunday (a big mistake I do not intend to repeat), I caught a flight to Phoenix through Atlanta. The flight to Atlanta was uneventful. My connection was scheduled to leave Atlanta at 9:35 PM. Because of mechanical difficulties, it did not leave until 3 AM Monday morning. As you can imagine, I spent the rest of the week trying to recover. The SBC Pastors’ Conference kicked off on Sunday evening, led by David Miller. Between...

As a boy preacher, I had many opportunities to preach, but my father did not allow me to receive an honorarium for my preaching. But it didn’t matter to me. If I had the money, I would have paid pastors to let me preach! These early opportunities taught me not to put a price-tag on my ministry. I remember one of the first times I received an honorarium; it was a couple hundred dollars, but you would have thought it was a million bucks! Not long after, I went to the mall with several friend and I spent all the money...

I landed at LAX from preaching. My cell phone rang as soon as I turned it on. When I answered, a friend chastised me about not responding to a message from the deacon chairman of the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. There were no messages on my phone. No messages at home or the office, either. Then it came to me. I rarely used the phone in my study, and didn’t even know the number. But I asked my assistant to check the phone and, sure enough, a deacon from Florida had left a message. My friend told...

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! – Psalm 115:1   Yesterday, the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church celebrated 142 years of God’s faithfulness! Many congregations do not make a big deal about church anniversaries, others ignore them outright. A church anniversary observance is often dismissed as another annual day, steeped in church tradition, and not Christian mission. I beg to differ. Statisticians report that some 4,000 churches in America close each year. Every week, multiple congregations – for one reason or another –...