The Word and the Work: Thoughts on Preaching, Pastoring, and the Christian Life

There are times in our life and in our walk with Christ when things just seem to be sideways.  Some call it a desert experience, a dry spell, or just feeling distance from God.  One of my favorite preachers talks about being "dry as cracker juice".  Here is the problem with being in that place.  When we are not in a place where we feel immersed in the living water offered by Christ through the power of His Holy Spirit we, like other dry things, are in danger of crumbling. It happens to all of us.  There is an old preaching illustration about an older couple riding down the road in an old pickup with a bench seat.  As the man drove his wife, who was seated against the passenger door said "honey, whenever we were younger and rode down the road in this old truck we always sat a lot closer together". The man, with his hands on the steering wheel said "Honey, I am not the one who has moved". This is a picture of us with God.  When we feel distance, it is ...

Today is April Fool's Day.  However, it is also the beginning of Autism Awareness month.  A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post titled The Gospel and Autism: A Father's Fear.  You can find that post here .  I relayed in that post many of the things that we were dealing with as a family, and how I had struggled with the ability of my son to mentally access the Gospel.  I would be lying to you if I said I still do not harbor some of those fears from time to time.  In the last six months I have begun to put together the very beginnings of a writing project that may end up being book length or it may just be essay length.  Either way it seeks to explore even deeper these concerns that I have because I know that I cannot be the only one that has them.  In the passing of almost 2 years I have learned some things about my son, about myself, and about God.  First, my son is amazing.  This 6 year old is largely taking life by storm....

This may look like a stack of Bibles.  In fact, it is exactly that.  If you asked the average person what was pictured above that is the answer they would give.  I would tell you that it is much more than that. In this picture there is almost 100 years of the godly heritage of my family on display.   The Bible on the bottom belonged to my great grandfather.   Depending on who you ask his legal name was either Willie Russell Threet or William Russell Threet.  According to the census records I have seen It is the latter.  All that being said he is the person that I was named after.  I never knew him, but I know much about him because my Dad was very close to his grandfather.  The Bible here was given to him by his parents on Christmas Day 1924 when he would have been 23 years old.  The inscription reads: Christmas Present. From Father and Mother to Willie, Dec. 25, 1924.  Read this Precious Book with Care for Its our earth...

Sadness. Despair.  Disgust. How many times do we feel these things in tragic situations?  It is normal and human.  What we do not feel is the proper feeling.  That feeling is responsibility.  I said it.  You and I are responsible for these types of tragedies.  Not in the way the politicians are going to paint it.  Not in the way that the media is going to paint it.  Not even in the way that the devil is going to paint it in our minds.  Yet, we are responsible. You read this and say, "How in the world could I be responsible for the actions of a deranged mad man in Charleston, South Carolina?"  We are responsible because for too long people on both ends of the political spectrum, all races, all nationalities, and all stripes of religious persuasions have failed to live courageously.  We have elevated our desire to be right over our duty to care.  We have jumped toward extremism at every opportunity.  Every tragedy...

Thanksgiving is this week so that means we have already been under a constant barrage of Christmas music for several weeks now.  As I have fought through this in a very Grinchy fashion I have begun to wonder about Parson Brown in the classic Holiday song Winter Wonderland.  You know he was who they were going to pretend that the snowman was."In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is Parson Brown".  Any ways, I have always been aware of the term Parson, but did not really know its origin.  A quick Google search will tell you that a Parson was a clergy member, especially in the Anglican tradition, that was the overseer or pastor of a church, usually in the country, that was not a part of a larger charge or presbytery.   This term has fallen out of use many places, because people are not fond of its rural implications.  Somehow to be called Parson is to be viewed as a rube of sorts amongst men of God.  As I looked at this I was really...

As my life has gotten busier, I have listened to less and less music through the day.  When I drive I listen to preaching or talk on the phone.  It is simply my reality.  I might even pray a little.  However, a few weeks ago I got the chance to go to a Southern Gospel concert.  That is immaterial, but I heard a song that has stuck with me.  It is called Good Ole Boys. The sound is not great on the video. This song has stuck with me because it has mirrored my life.  Look, it's no secret the way I used to live my life.  It was rough.  It was rowdy.  It was sinful.  I am ashamed of it and I am not here to brag about sins of my past.  The reason I am approaching this subject is because I was the quintessential Good Ole Boy the song mentions.  If you asked people to describe me from age 16 to 22 they might have even used those words paired with some other colorful vocabulary.  I am from the great Southern state of Arka...

Well, here we are at the end of Summer.  At least school has started back.  It's still hot.  This means that my family's ministry in the Chestnut Grove area of Buckingham County, Virginia has been officially going on for around 14 months.  I use this blog very intermittently as a way of putting some of my deepest issues out there so that I do not mislead myself.  That being said I would like to share with you about our time here at Chestnut Grove so that you can pray for the church, my family, and me. I have learned quite a few things over the course of this year and thought I might share them with everyone so that those looking into certain kinds of ministry can get a well rounded picture.  Understand, we are a rural church if there ever was one. A friend who came out here to sing during our revival put it this way; He said, " Brother, if you wanted to get away from it all you have succeeded."  This community is unlike any that I have known and it i...