Preachers are human beings! This may seem to be an unnecessary statement of the obvious. But it's not. It's something that need to be remembered by both people in the pew and people in the pulpit. Preachers are only human beings. They are not super-saints, preaching machines, or holy angels (By the way, I do not think the letters to the churches in Revelation 2-3 are grounds for calling pastors "angels."). We are just plain old men. Or plain young men, in my case. (And, by the way, I am being intentionally gender specific). We are men. This is something...

I preached in Tyler, Texas, last Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday morning, my wife called me while on I was on my way to DFW airport to catch my flight home. When she told me what was going on, I called on my coworkers to the house to take her to the hospital. A few hours I landed to bad news. I don't feel comfortable going into detail. But the good news is that Crystal is doing better. She has been home resting and recuperating. And she is feeling much better today. Thank you to all of your who have called,...

I am in Tyler, Texas. Tonight, I will preach the the second of two sermons at the Liberty Baptist Church, where Mark Hood is the pastor. God willing, I will fly home in the morning to be with Mt. Sinai for our midweek service. I am working on a message from Psalm 119:65-72 entitled, "How Has the Lord Dealt With You?"It has bee more than a week since my last post. And boy, what a week. First of all, my wife had received news that her father was sick. So she went to check on him in Midland, TX. It...

There is electrical work being done on our church facilities. And the electricity was shut down today. So I couldn't go into the office. I call this providence! I desperately needed a day off. And the office being shut down became an excellent excuse... er... reason for me to rest. And that's exactly what I did today. I took my children to school. I had breakfast with Crystal. I took a nap. I had lunch with George. I came home and took another nap. I went to pick up the kids from school. Then we hung out all afternoon -...

I am going to do something here that I don't really intend to do again. I am going to respond to comments that were posted anonymously. When I first read these comments this morning, I was a little taken aback. I don't think the questions themselves bothered me. I love questions. But I don't think I was able to make out the the tone or spirit of the questions. And the fact that the questions were submitted anonymously made it all the more difficult for me to discern whether or not this is a person I should ignore. So in...

Tuesday night, I preached my final message at Phillips Temple CME in Dayton. And I did something I have only done two other times in all my pastoral ministry: I preached something away from MSMBC that I had not already preached to MSMBC. I had been working on my midweek message on Psalm 119:57-64 ("The Lord is My Portion"), and it was really in my system. So I took a shot at it Tuesday night, even though I didn't have much more than an extended outline. I mentioned the fact that it was an "unfinished sermon" before I started preaching....

It is just past 2 AM here in Dayton. I am tired, lonely, and homesick. And I cannot sleep. I flew all day Saturday to get here (It was morning when I left LAX; evening when I arrived in Dayton). I got something to eat and basically went straight to bed. My day started pretty early this morning. I had to preach twice at the Phillip's Temple CME Church, for their 9 and 11 AM worship services. Pastor James Washington is a kind and gracious host. In fact, his kindness to me has been somewhat embarrassing. He really goes out...

On Sunday, June 4, I am scheduled to begin an verse-by-verse exposition of the New Testament Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians. I have asked the congregation of Mt. Sinai Church to read the six chapters of Ephesians, a chapter a day, between Monday through Saturday, leading up to the beginning of our study. Please join us as we familiarize ourselves with this wonderful letter of scripture."Blessed by the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." - Ephesians 1:3

By the grace of God, I made it home safely this morning from Greensboro. My final night at the Garden of Prayer Church was uplifting and encouraging. I was really blessed by my time with Pastor Keelan Atkinson and the Garden of Prayer family. I had an early flight home this morning. And when I arrived, I received the news that my wife's father had been taken into the hospital. He is in stable condition, I later discovered. But he is not doing well. Next week, Crystal will go to Midland-Odesa, Texas, to check on him. I have tried to...

This weekend, the "The Da Vinci Code" will be released in theaters around the country. And as this much-hyped movie comes out, I feel the need to make a confession: I have not read the book. And barring some minor miracle, I will not see the movie, either. Some time ago, I learned not to get overly excited about the cultural attacks against Christianity. In fact, I have come to expect it, at this point. When Christmas and Easter comes, I started looking for the new "discovery" some supposed "expert" has made about "true" Christianity. Really, no religion is so...

Last night, I gave my first of four messages at the Garden of Prayer Church in Greensboro. It was a good meeting. In fact, it went much better than I expected. Keelan, the pastor of this congregation, is my friend. And it's hard for me to preach for my friends, for some reason. But I really did right at home last night. And, from the comments of members to me after the service, the message was a great encouragement to many. Praise God for that. I have three more messages to preach and then I'll be headed home. Pray for...

I am in Cincinnati, awaiting my connecting flight to Greensboro, NC. I am scheduled to preach at the Garden of Prayer Sovereign Grace Baptist Church through Thursday. My friend, Keelan Atkinson is the pastor. Keelan has served there for about a year and a half. Keelan is also a blogger, sort of. He has a blog, I should say. But he hasn't published a post on it in almost a month. Pray that he will "repent" and get back to it. This will be my second time preaching at Garden of Prayer. I did their "Friends and Family Day" last...