[caption id="attachment_6149" align="alignright" width="300"] G3 CONFERENCE: Steve Lawson, H.B. Charles Jr., & Josh Buice[/caption] It was a joy to speak at the 2016 G3 Conference (Gospel, Grace & Glory) hosted by my friend, Josh Buice and the Prays Mill Baptist Church of Douglasville, Georgia. (Click here to read host Josh Buice's reflections on the 2016 G3 Conference). Praying for pastors and churches on the east coast who have to shut down this week and still minister to their congregations during this snowstorm. The Lord be with you! I hope to see you at the Jacksonville Pastors Conference next weekend, hosted...

Praying at all times in the Spirit with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. – Ephesians 6:18 January 10-17, 2016 is Prayer Emphasis Week at the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church. We believe it happens after prayer! And we expression our devotion to believing prayer by beginning each year committing ourselves, one another, and our congregation to the Lord in prayer. I preach on prayer during these two Sundays. And we have set prayer times during the week. Members were given the opportunity to submit prayer requests. These prayer...

Happy New Year! May the Lord's richest blessings be with you and yours in 2015! NEW POST: Top Blog Posts of 2015 Check out the Southern Seminary top 5 chapel videos from 2015. Bruce Ware: Advice for Another Year of Bible Reading Justin Taylor: Reading the Whole Bible in 2016: An FAQ Donald Whitney: How I Started Praying the Bible Kevin DeYoung: Ten Check Up Questions for the New Year Tim Challies: How to Finish Over 100 Books in 2016 Colin Smith: Seven Virtues to Pursue for Spiritual Growth Nicholas T. Batzig: Plagiarizing and Quoting in Preaching Jared C. Wilson: The...

Most weeks, I publish several posts on this site. I write articles on biblical preaching, pastoral ministry, and church life. I record interviews with pastors and other spiritual leaders. I post The On Preaching Podcast episodes. And I share articles written by others in my Saturday Shout-Outs. Thank you for reading my blog this year. I hope you have found helpful resources here. Here are some of the most viewed and best responded to posts from my blog site in 2015. Enjoy! Articles Lessons My Father Taught Me. So Do You Write Your Own Sermons. Weak Sermons Need Music To...

Sign up for my newsletter in the box in the right column of this page to receive a free sermon manuscript each week to read devotionally or put fuel in your fire as you prepare to preach. Check out the John A. Reed Jr. Interview. Pastor Reed is the Pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. He was one of my father's dear friends. He is my "Pops." We continue to thank the Lord for blessing the Shiloh Church Choir's live CD recording last weekend. Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement. The CD is schedule for national release...

A great, big birthday shout-out to my wife Crystal! We first met in Coach William's World History Claus at Los Angeles High School. We have now been together for more than 20 years. And it has been  an indescribable privilege to watch Crystal grow as a Christian, wife, mother, leader, and friend over these years. I am getting older! She is getting better! But being with Crystal makes me want to be better, too. I love you, Sunshine! Happy Birthday! Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement for the Shiloh Church Choir Live CD recording. It was a great night...

This Friday – December 18, 2015 – the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church Choir will record a live worship CD. It will be Shiloh’s first music project. We believe the word of God and the worship of God should always go together (John 4:23-24). As we go deeper in biblical truth, we should go higher in grateful praise. This music project reflects our prayerful desire to be a church where the light of Christian truth shines and the fire a Christian joy burns. [Tweet "As we go deeper in biblical truth, we should go higher in grateful praise. "] This worship...

Today is my 17th wedding anniversary. Crystal and I met at Los Angeles High School more 25 years ago. We have been together for more than 20 years. Three kids, two pastorates, and one transcontinental translation later, we are still going strong. Crystal is my Sunshine! I love her desperately. And I pray the Lord bless us to grow really old together - even though I am way ahead of her on that one! Next weekend - December 18, 2015 at 7 PM - the Shiloh Church Choir will record a live worship CD, under the leadership of our Pastor of...

I went to the office early to work on my Thanksgiving sermon before the rest of the team arrived. I stopped by the Waffle House on the way. As I sat at the counter, a man in a nearby booth asked, “Is that Psalm 100 on your file.” It was. I was working on several projects at the same time. And I had marked Psalm 100 real big across the folder. I told the man I was working on Psalm 100 to preach for Thanksgiving. With a confused look, he asked, “So do you write your own sermons?” When I...

I have pastored two churches. I have also been a candidate for two pastoral vacancies during my ministry. I was not a part of the search process of the first church I served. My name was submitted for nomination from the floor during the call meeting. The congregation unexpectedly selected me as its next pastor. I was initially asked to fill the pulpit one Sunday at the church I currently serve. I was later asked to allow my name to be submitted as a pastoral candidate for the church. The church called me to be its pastor several months later....

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! Thanksgiving morning, the Shiloh Church gathered for worship. It was a blessed time. I shared the manuscript I preached from Psalm 100 in today's weekly sermon email. You can sign up for this weekly newsletter in the column to the right of this page. Check out the new article I posted this week: "Why Expository Preaching?" As you are making plans for 2016, mark your calendars for Together For the Gospel (T4G) - April 12-14, 2016 in Louisville. Jason K. Allen: 5 Words That Strengthen Every Sermon Brian Croft: What if I preach...

My father – H.B. Charles, Sr. – was a faithful preacher. He was not, however, an expositor. His messages were thoroughly biblical. But they were not expositional. My dad was more a textual preacher. He would often lift a verse and keep turning it to show the beautiful gospel implications in it. But the main point of the text was not necessarily the main point of his sermon. I was not led to Christ by expository preaching. The preaching that nurtured my faith was not expositional, either. Much of the preaching that continues to feed my soul is not classic...