This weekend, the Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church will celebrate 140 years of God's faithfulness! We praise God for the past! We trust god for the future! It was a joy to host the 2015 National Conference on Preaching at the Shiloh Church this week. I hope to see you at the 2015 Expositors Summit at Southern Seminary. Check out my latest post: 3 Things I Need God to Do For Me As I Preach Erik Raymond: Mix in Some Off-Speed Pitches Jay Mitchell: 5 Signs That It's Time to Hire An Executive Pastor Kevin DeYoung: 6 Reasons Why Membership Matters...

  I publicly pray before I start my sermons. I also privately pray as I preach. Can you preach and pray at the same time? You better! Multiple things go through the preacher’s mind as he preaches. I’m not sure the preacher thinks about multiple things at the same time. Rather, the mind quickly and constantly shifts from one thing to another – consisting of good and bad thoughts, true and false, wise and foolish. This is why I pray as I preach. There are three fundamental things I need God to do for as I preach. I Need God...

Happy Mother's Day!   A special happy Mother's Day to my wife, "Baby Momma," and best friend, Crystal! I love you!!! Happy Mother's Day to my mommy, Ellen Charles! Next week, the 2015 National Conference on Preaching will meet at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville (May 12-14). It should be a great week of preaching, training, and fellowship. I hope you can join us! This week, the Shiloh Church affirmed elder-leadership. I wrote a this week about "Our Journey to Biblical Eldership." Check it out! Click here to hear my sermon "Calling Faithful Elders" (1 Peter 5:1-4) on the Shiloh...

Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. – Acts 20:28 I sat in the back seat. Two church leaders sat up front. They thought they were talking to me. They were actually talking to one another. At some point, they asked my philosophy of church leadership. I answered: “Jesus Christ is the head of the church. And he exercises his authority through a plurality of godly men.” Those two sentences express my convictions about...

“I Was Blind, But Now I See!” John 9:1 says Jesus was passing by and saw a man blind from birth. Jesus is still passing by. And he still sees those who cannot see him! We have been blinded by sin. We have been blind since birth (Psalm 51:5). But Jesus is able to open the eyes of the blind! The miraculous healing of this blind man in John 9 teaches us that those who do not believe in Jesus are the ones who are truly blind (vv. 18-42)! John 9:1-17 records the good news that Jesus is able to...

I first saw the expression while riding down Crenshaw Boulevard in Los Angeles. The “Godfather of Soul” had been arrested after leading police on a high-speed chase through several states. As “the hardest working man in show business” sat in prison, some enterprising brother found a way to profit from his troubles. He stood on Crenshaw, selling t-shirts that read, “Free James Brown!” Over the years, that expression has been adapted to call for the release – sincerely or sarcastically – of various persons in different forms of bondage. Consider this my appeal to #FreeGospelMusic. I love Gospel Music. I...

A Spiritual House Cleaning It was the time of the Passover. Jerusalem was filled with throngs of pilgrims who had come to remember and celebrate how the Lord delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Jesus and his disciples were also in town. And when Jesus saw what was taking place in the temple, he cleaned house. Whenever religious machinery gets in the way of spiritual purpose, it’s time for a spiritual house cleaning. This record of Jesus cleansing the temple was a sign to believers and a sign to unbelievers. I.  A sign to believers (John 2:13-17)...

YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL LIST IN THE BOX AT THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE TO RECEIVE A FREE WEEKLY SERMON MANUSCRIPT. A big shout-out to my youngest child, Hailey, who turned 7-years-old this week!  Holy Week is here! May the Lord be exalted, lost people saved, and the saints grow spiritually as we remember the Person and Work of Jesus Christ. It was a joy to participate in the ERLC Leadership Summit this week on the Gospel and Racial Reconciliation. And a special thanks for this follow profile on the Shiloh Church... Christianity Today: Russell Moore and John...

You are invited to join us for this year’s E. K. Bailey Expository Preaching Conference. This is a gathering of preachers committed to growing and learning how to be more effective in their preaching. Preaching is God’s chosen way to spread his word and it is a great responsibility and opportunity that rests before every preacher. Our conference is designed to give you tools, resources and training to help you strengthen your preaching. This year our theme is “Preaching the Gospels”. We will center our time around the work, life and ministry of Jesus Christ and how we can preach...

When A Sinner Meets Jesus Jesus was on his way to Galilee (v. 3). But he had to pass through Samaria (v. 4). It was not a geographic necessity. Jews often took the long way to Galilee, to avoid passing through Samaria. But it was spiritually necessary for Jesus to pass through Samaria. He had a meeting with a sinner at Jacob’s well. She arrived by herself, having come after the other women were gone. She did not want to encounter the looks and whispers. But while she avoided others, Christ went out of his way to meet her. Jesus...

Thanks for reading my blog. Enjoy these Saturday Shout-Outs! YOU CAN SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL LIST IN THE BOX AT THE TOP RIGHT OF THIS PAGE TO RECEIVE A FREE WEEKLY SERMON MANUSCRIPT. TODAY'S MANUSCRIPT IS ENTITLED "MUTUAL PRAYER FOR DIFFICULT TIMES" (2 THESSALONIANS 3:1-5). Thanks to pastor Pastor John Barber for the opportunity to preach the installation service of the Florida East Coast Missionary Baptist Church Association. Check out my Preaching Magazine interview: What Should the Sermon Do? Check out the latest episode of The On Preaching Podcast : Maurice Watson Interview Cameron Triggs: Making a Name for Ourselves: Social...

The following is a guest post by Cameron Triggs who is the Pastor of Youth & Young Adults of the Shiloh Church, where I serve as Pastor-Teacher. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” - Genesis 11:4 Recent studies by Pew Forum state only 20% of Americans are sharing their faith online weekly; less are Christians. Ironically, the amount of time spent on social media has consistently increased. Naturally, the question arises...