Recently, I had a conversation with a friend who is black and lives in the south. He told me racism is not a social issue. What drives racism, no matter what color of skin one has, isn’t the way the judicial system is set up. It isn’t even whether are not we have statues. In this post we’ll explore what he means by that.
If you are a disciple of Jesus Christ and you live in America, what happened in Charlottesville this past weekend ought to break your heart. Any kind of violence and favoritism should, especially racism.
Here’s what happened, and what we can learn from it.
Thanks again for all the feedback you’ve been giving after the first two posts!
But what about when your church requires extra-biblical standards of new believers? What about when you feel lonely and unable to connect with others?
Am I suggesting that no matter what church situation you are experiencing right now you should just focus on the Gospel and continue investing as much as you can?
Absolutely not!
Thanks so much for your feedback after my last post!
Many of my readers feel held back by their church. They want to be fruitful for Christ. They want more of God and His blessing, but because of traditions or structure, they feel restricted by their church. Not empowered.
In my last post, I shared how I used to think my church held me back from being a better Christian, but now I know it’s my focus. I said there are times we bump into irreconcilable differences and suggested we can’t ever avoid those. But what we can avoid is a wrong focus. In this post I’m going to share how to gain a voice with your pastor and become an agent of positive change in your church.
Do you face frustrations with church?
I used to think it was my church holding me back from being a better Christian. Now, I know what actually holds me back is not my church, but my focus.
Have you ever read one of my posts that left you asking more questions than before, or left you wishing I would elaborate more?
Last year’s two most-read posts were also perhaps the two most controversial posts. 7 Modesty Issues That Don’t Matter received over 4,500 views and 30+ comments. What Plexus Exposes about the American Church received nearly 22,000 views and 130 comments.
The thing about controversial posts is they are often incomplete. That’s probably what makes them so heated. In order to address some of the gaps in the original posts, I created a couple of videos elaborating more on each one. Check them out in this post.
2016 has been another successful year of blogging. I published over 75 posts that were read more than 185,000 times. Today I’m going to re-share with you the third and fourth most-read posts.
Nothing helps to give perspective to one’s writing than knowing the story behind the author. I find it interesting that the fourth most-read post of 2016 on this blog isn’t even a post, it’s my “about” page where I share my story. If you want to know more about me personally and what motivates my writing, check it out.
Number three was published the end of August and viewed more than 4,500 times in the last four months. There is a lot of uncertainty in Christianity today, especially among the younger generation. Church is frustrating, whether you come from a more traditional background or a progressive one. Either it’s full of ritual and stringent practice or obsessed with growth and modern advances. Many people are walking away and this post tells why.
Our churches have become too perfect for handling messy people of the world.
The worst part of it is that at the core, we have become too perfect for ourselves: we no longer share with others about our struggles because people don’t know what to do with them.
This years’ fifth most-read post was No Broken People Allowed, and I think you’ll understand as you read why this resonated with well over three thousand viewers. Check it out, leave a comment and share it with a friend. Let’s become people who care for each other in our brokenness.
Each generation has to find their place in history. For one, morality may be the trump struggle they face. For another, it may be poverty.
For us, there’s never been a more Christian time in history. And that’s making us ask questions. How do we know what we have been taught all these years is right? What do we do when it feels there are lots of extra-biblical rules and regulations we have to abide by?
Throughout the month of December 2016, I’m going to share the ten most-read posts of this year. Number nine is one I published in March and shares perhaps the biggest burden on my heart for my generation. I believe the way we make right the failures of our past is moving beyond pointing out the faults and doing something else instead. Here’s to. . .
On this blog I like to look at issues that people don’t normally feel comfortable talking about publicly–the white elephant issues in the room, so to speak. One of the reasons I like doing this is because if we are to grow and become better than we must make the undiscussable discussable.
Many “undiscussables” are negative: people don’t like having faults pointed out. At the same time, some undiscussables, especially when it comes to a heritage we see issues in, are quite positive: people are uncomfortable recognizing the qualities that, if let go of, could hurt them in the long run.
Throughout the month of December 2016, I’m going to share the ten most-read posts of this year. Number ten actually wasn’t even published in 2016, but remains one of my most-read posts. Here’s to. . .
October is pastor’s appreciation month, the time of year everyone lays down their agitated opinions of leadership and pretend to actually like the ones that lead them.
But what if you don’t like your pastor? What if you’d rather take him under and replace him with someone more in line with your ideas of church?
I’ve been blessed with great pastors in my life and as I have gotten to know their hearts I’ve observed several things that really get them down. For those of you not interested in pretending anymore that you actually appreciate your pastor and would rather watch him perish, I have neatly organized my observations about pastor depreciation into seven powerful principles for doing just that.
What is the point of church? With as many frustrations and variations in the Christian church today, is what we know as church really what God intended? Did He anticipate there being so many different denominations, different approaches to Scripture, and different ways of living out faith? Or this all some grand mistake? Is the church as God designed lost?
The Christian faith is a romance story. God refers to it as such throughout all of Scripture. Jesus Christ, the Bridegroom, relentlessly pursues His beautiful bride, the church.
Do you see the church as a place you experience the agape love and redemption of God, or is church to you a place where you experience the brokenness of man? Does engaging the church of Christ feel like a natural overflow of your commitment to Him, or does it feel like an obligation of the Christian faith?
Author Asher Witmer knows what it’s like to want freedom from sexual sin only to continually fail. We’re often told we need more personal discipline, that we need to think godly things instead of fleshly things.
What if I told you that discipline won’t solve your problem with lust?
Our male sexuality is given by God for advancing beauty and goodness. But somewhere along the line it becomes something that causes devastation and guilt. The good news is we don’t have to live with guilt. In Live Free, Asher Witmer shows us how we can find freedom from sexual sin, live with nothing to hide, and be able to fight for others.
