Shiloh Church

Articles

Cutting It Straight 2019 | Day 3 Recap

September 20, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
    Thanks for your prayers for Cutting It Straight!  Yesterday was the closing day of Cutting It Straight. Gary Williams Jr., a faithful, longtime pastor in Jacksonville started the day by challenging us to stand and fight when things are difficult, rather than giving up.During our final round of workshops, I taught a class on the basic tips for effective sermon delivery. I am not an expert on sermon delivery. But I take the subject seriously. There are three types of preachers: ones you can listen to, ones you cannot listen to, and ones you must listen to. You...
Articles

Cutting It Straight 2019 | Day 2 Recap

September 19, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
  Day 2 of Cutting It Straight is the longest, fullest day of the conference. It was a long but blessed day! The day started with a message by Daniel Henderson on gospel-driven prayer for gospel-driven work (Acts 4:23-31). Henderson leads the 6:4 Fellowship, a ministry that encourages pastors to base their leadership of the church on prayer and the ministry of the word (Acts 6:4). In his message, he reminded us why it happens after prayer! During our first breakouts of the day, I led a class on the principles of interpretation. To cut it straight, you must know the...
Articles

Cutting It Straight 2019 | Day 1 Recap

September 18, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
Cutting It Straight 2019 is off and running! We off of to and blessed start Tuesday (9/17). The conference kicked-off with a challenging and encouraging message from 1 Samuel 14 by  Breonus Mitchell, who leads the Mt. Gilead Baptist Church in Nashville. General sessions on preaching, worship & arts, and women's ministry followed. Tony Merida model gospel-centered preaching from Romans 8:31-39. Brian Croft talked to pastors and worship leaders about what it means to gather God's people for worship. My wife, Crystal Charles, gave a talk to the ministers' wives and women's ministry leaders. Crystal loves to lead outreach efforts. She...
Articles

Pray for Cutting It Straight 2019

September 16, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
  Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. – 2 Timothy 2:15   This week (September 17-19, 2019), the Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference will take place at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, Florida, while I serve as pastor. The purpose of Cutting It Straight is to train, model, and promote faithful and clear Bible exposition in the preaching and teaching of God’s word. It also seeks to help ministry leaders develop a biblical philosophy of ministry as they do...
Interviews

Alexander Strauch Interview

August 22, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
  I browsed the exhibit hall at a conference recently. A kindly man at a particular booth struck up a conversation. He even offered me a free book. It was a new book by Alexander Strauch. I was grateful and excited to receive it. (My best friends are people who give me a book I have not read yet.) Asking the name of the generous book-giver, I discovered it was none other than Alexander Straugh himself! I have studied the subject of church leadership since I was a young, new pastor. My studies have been greatly aided by the writings...
Podcast

#086: Guarding Your Heart in the Pulpit [PODCAST]

August 10, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
  Welcome to The On Preaching Podcast, the podcast dedicated to helping you preach faithfully, clearly, and better. Preaching is a public act of spiritual devotion. We may pray that God would hide us behind the cross as we preach. But there is no place to hide in the pulpit. Let's face it. The pulpit is a dangerous place. It can fill the preacher with pride that leads to his downfall. It can fill the preacher with discouragement that causes him to give up. It can fill the preacher with fear that prostitutes his divne message for human approval. How...
Interviews

Lee Arthur Kessee Interview

June 25, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
    Pastor L.A. Kessee has served as pastor of the Bethany Baptist Church of West Los Angeles for the past twenty-five years. A graduate of the legendary Bishop College in Dallas, L.A. Kessee was roommates with E.K. Bailey and served a local church with Melvin V. Wade Sr. during his college years. Kessee is known around the country for his dynamic preaching and leadership. I met Pastor Kessee when I was a boy preacher in Los Angeles. He invited me to preach for him on a Sunday morning. I remember two details about that day. There was a rug...
Articles

An Invitation to Cutting It Straight 2019

June 19, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
   Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. - 2 Timothy 2:15   Cutting It Straight Expository Preaching Conference exists to train, model, and promote expositional preaching. Expository preaching is that preaching in which the point of the sermon is rooted in, is in alignment with, and flows out of the selected scripture. It is preaching in which the sermon in shaped by the content and intent of the sermon text. In short, expositional preaching is biblical preaching Expository preaching...

Shiloh Church Choir & Sovereign Grace Music Live Recording

February 27, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
On Thursday, February 28, 2019, the Shiloh Church Choir will record a live worship CD with Bob Kauflin and Sovereign Grace Music. I was introduced to Sovereign Grace Music years ago, while I still served in Los Angeles. I met Bob Kauflin some years ago, as we served in a conference together. Our introduction and budding friendship involved many fruitful discussions about the gospel, corporate worship, and music. In the providence of God, those conversations led to an opportunity for our respective ministries to do something together to serve the larger church. I am grateful and excited that the Shiloh...
Articles

2019 Prayer Emphasis Week at Shiloh Church

January 14, 2019
By H.B. Charles Jr.
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 13-20, 2019 is Prayer Emphasis Week at the Shiloh Church in Jacksonville, where I serve as pastor. As a congregation, we start the year seeking God’s guidance, power, and blessings on our lives and ministry work together. We believe it happens after prayer! There are a lot of things you can do to help the situation, after you have prayed about it. But there really is nothing you can do to...
Articles

Why Every Day is Thanksgiving

November 19, 2018
By H.B. Charles Jr.
  Which element of prayer is harder to practice? Confession? Or thanksgiving? This would seem to be an easy question to answer. The confession of sin is obviously more difficult than the offering of thanksgiving, right? Not necessarily. Pride makes our flesh resist both elements. A proud heart cannot admit in confession, “I did it.” A proud heart cannot acknowledge with thanksgiving, “I didn’t do it. God did!” For that matter, pride makes adoration, supplication, intercession difficult to practice, as well. A godly heart is filled with perpetual thanksgiving. It is not merely a national holiday. For the humble spirit that knows...
Articles

Celebrating 10 Years as Pastor and People

November 14, 2018
By H.B. Charles Jr.
“So, how did you get from Los Angeles to Jacksonville?” I am regularly asked this question. I give the same answer each time: “The Lord dragged me to Jacksonville kicking and screaming.” This is no dig at Jacksonville or the church I serve. It is an honest statement about how my pastoral transition to Jacksonville took place in 2008. I was born and raised in Los Angeles. In a real sense, I was born and raised in a local church there. My father pastored the congregation for 40 years. More than a year after his death, I was selected to...