Exploring Faith and Spirituality

Religion

How the Psalms’ Pilgrim Prayers Shaped Me

The first time I seriously prayed a psalm was when my wife had a health scare. All my words dried up that day. I know the Spirit interceded for me with groaning (Rom. 8:26–27), but I still needed w...

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Read Books, Not AI Summaries of Books

Tech writer Packy McCormick recently went viral with a post on X where he offered this “pro tip”: “You can basically read >100 books per day by asking chatgpt to summarize them for you.” He was...

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Don’t Reduce Faithfulness to Neutrality: A Response to David French and Chip Gaines

Nearly a decade ago, Chip and Joanna Gaines came under public scrutiny not for anything they said or did directly but because of their membership in an evangelical church. The hosts of the hit HGTV...

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Worship Leader, Tell the Whole Story

If you enter the Lord of the Rings trilogy at the climax, where the One Ring is finally destroyed, chances are you may be only moderately intrigued. Without first seeing the beauty of Middle-earth ...

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Make Faith and Work Part of Your Church’s Ministry

Discussions about faith and work are part of the Protestant Christian tradition. One key misconception the Reformation had to address was the elevation of churchly vocations—like priest, nun, and m...

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Counter-Catechesis for a Secular Age

Lesslie Newbigin was a British missionary and theologian. Born in Newcastle upon Tyne and studying for two degrees at Cambridge, he was commissioned to India as a Church of Scotland missionary and ...

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You’re Never a Burden to Jesus

“Do you think you’re a burden to Jesus?” My breath caught at the gentle question. I hadn’t verbalized it, even to myself. But my heart had begun to understand the root of the struggles I confessed...

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If You Want to Be Sanctified, Rehearse Your Identity

In an age of identity politics, where people are subdivided into an infinite number of victim groups and used as pawns on political and cultural chessboards, Christians may be suspicious of the con...

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Pursuit of Wisdom Is Pursuit of Christ

The start of summer often feels like a new beginning. In the university town where I live, commencement speakers have commissioned their graduates to take their first steps across the stage, grab t...

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How to Talk to Parents About Marriage in Islam | Premarital Tips

You sit across the room from your parents, heart racing, palms sweaty. You’ve found someone you want to marry, someone who aligns with your deen, your values, and your future. But there’s just one ...

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Struggling to Keep Up in Motherhood? Let the Spirit Set Your Pace.

Make no mistake about it, motherhood has always been a massive job. I love how G. K. Chesterton captured its staggering scope: “A woman’s function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not beca...

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BONUS: Advice for Apologetics (with Wes Huff)

In a special crossover episode of The Everyday Pastor and Gospelbound, Wes Huff joins Lig Duncan, Matt Smethurst, and Collin Hansen to discuss the role of apologetics in pastoral ministry. How can ...

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Pastors, How Do We Guard Against Assuming the Worst?

You’re in the church lobby on Sunday morning when a woman in her mid to late 30s walks in for the first time. You welcome her, show her where the coffee is, and give her a first-time-guest gift. Yo...

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On My Shelf: Life and Books with Mark Sayers

On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked Mark Sayers—author of Platforms to Pillars: Trading the Burden of Perform...

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Go to Church to Discover Your Identity

Learning about athletes’ early years is always fascinating. How did they get where they are? What set them apart? If I’d taken a different path, could I have become an Olympic shot-putter? Doubtful...

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‘Night and Day Difference’: The Growth of Good Publishing in Egypt

Over the past year or so, I’ve been noticing a pattern in the international stories I cover—wherever there’s a gospel-centered movement, there’s a new and growing Reformed book publisher. This is t...

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Don’t Skip Leg Day or the Lord’s Day

The deck is stacked against us. Labor-saving gadgets, electronic entertainment, and an information economy encourage us to value our minds more than our bodies. Even Christians with an orthodox the...

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Christ Revealed in Glory (2 Thess. 1)

In this lecture, Don Carson explores 2 Thessalonians 1, highlighting the centrality of Christ in the believer’s life. Carson unpacks how the Thessalonians’ faith and love amid persecution reveal Go...

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A Theological Vision for Discipling the Next Generation

When I planted Coram Deo in Omaha 20 years ago, our approach to children’s ministry was admittedly haphazard. With a small congregation mostly in their 20s and only about 10 children younger than 5...

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Your Soul Needs the Song of Solomon

I want you to rethink the Song of Solomon (often called the Song of Songs), or at least expand your understanding, application, and appreciation of the Song to your spirituality. Your soul, and not...

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The Gospel Isn’t Accessible If Your Church Isn’t

One of the first times I recall feeling friction between the church and disability was talking with the mother of two boys with severe disabilities. I was in their living room speaking with their m...

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