Matthew | August 31, 2011
This book was recommended to me by Steve Curo. It was an excellent suggestion, especially for a vacation read. It was a awesome book about navy seal training, and a huge adventure of life and death. It was written by Marcus Luttrell, and talks about a firefight he was in with some other seals. They [...]
Matthew | August 26, 2011
Yes, I know, do not give a list. Well here are some bulletin points on improving preaching. There is a ton of stuff I want to say, but really do not have a time to write a book on it. So here we go. 1. Read. Preachers get struck in preaching because they have learned [...]
Matthew | August 24, 2011
I remember going to the Truth in Love lectures. While there, Dave Miller preached a sermon on pride. My heart burned within me. Great sermons cause heartburn, just ask those on the day of Pentecost. It burns because one realizes the change or application of the text. You are attempting to transform people through your [...]
Matthew | August 23, 2011
Developing a sermon that has consistent flow is a challenge. This aspect is really the difference in most sermons. The preacher that has the ability to connect explanation, illustration, and application with a unified theme is doing a great job. Often the application might come first, with the text being forced to be pulled behind [...]
Matthew | August 22, 2011
This week I thought I would write the posts with the general theme of providing some advice on preaching. So each day, I will give a small bit of information of developing a good sermon. The first piece of advice is the focus of the texts in the gospel. In preaching the gospel, one can focus on [...]
Matthew | August 19, 2011
During the process of introducing a congregation to missional thought, there are various levels of understanding that a congregation will go through in this process. The process takes the congregation from a basic understanding of what you are saying and doing to a deeper level of knowledge. This is a process that people will go [...]
Matthew | August 17, 2011
I read “The Mayflower” by this author, and really loved the book. So I wanted to give this book a chance. I am glad I did. This is a wonderful book about history, which reads like a novel. This is Philbrick’s strength, his ability to make a story come alive. Instead of just giving facts, and [...]
Matthew | August 16, 2011
While we were gone in China, the church was involved in some great missional work in the community. The first task was to improve the landscaping of a local business that the teenage class adopted. The teens did a prayer walk through the town, and picked a Flower shop to adopt. I approached the owner [...]
Matthew | August 15, 2011
Well, this is a difficult blog to post, but I feel I better tell the news in a public way. Mostly everyone has heard, and I felt that I better tell the blogging world about this development. Things did not work out for the adoption. It is a long story, and really just too painful [...]
Matthew | August 1, 2011
Well, I am driving to Oklahoma City tomorrow to drop the kids off, and then jump on a plane at 6am in Denver. It should be an interesting next few days. The worst part is that I have a terrible cold, I feel awful. This is going to be a hard trip, double it with being sick. [...]
