Before Division Comes: A Playbook for Pastoral Unity
David Mathis | Even among pastor-elder teams, conflict comes. Disagreements are inevitable. How then might we navigate conflict with a constant eye toward God-honoring unity?
Marshall Segal | How can we make Jesus look good in life and in death? By enjoying him as better than anything life could ever give ? and better than anything death could ever take.
The Thickest Joy on Earth: Why We Love Philippians
David Mathis | Why do so many Christians love the book of Philippians? Among other reasons, because the letter is brief, accessible, memorable, and teeming with joy.
The Most Important People in the World: Why Christians Prioritize the Church
David Mathis | The Father prioritizes the church by choosing her, the Son prioritizes her by purchasing and purifying her, and the Spirit prioritizes her in his power. So, how do we prioritize the church?
Leaders in the Church: Speaking and Living God?s Word
Does church leadership seem endlessly complicated? Take heart. Christian leaders guide God?s people from where they are to where God wants them to go, using God?s methods.
Only One Life: Christ?s Invincible Gospel and Global Mission
God is sovereign, and he has purposed his gospel to spread to the ends of the earth. Those who give themselves to that purpose are invincible, even through suffering.
How Jesus Met with God: The Pace and Patterns of a Perfect Life
David Mathis | Jesus had a full and fruitful ministry, but unlike us, he never seemed hurried or frantic. What can we learn by observing his holy habits during his earthly life?
Gain What You Cannot Lose: The Joy of World Mission with Jesus
When Christ calls us to the mission field with him, he calls us to deny shallow pleasures, die to ourselves, and enjoy greater and greater delight in him.
Two Main Tasks in Ministry: Good and Happy Pastors, Part 2
David Mathis | Scripture says elders should be ?able to teach? and ?sober-minded? ? but why? The two correspond to a pastor?s most important tasks: feeding and leading.
Three Contrasts in a Leader?s Heart: Good and Happy Pastors, Part 1
David Mathis | What does Christ call church leaders to be and do? Like him, they labor heartily and happily, not for selfish gain, but for their people?s joy.
Christmas Was and Christmas Is: The Whole Story of Advent
David Mathis | How do you need God?s help this Advent? What need seems most pressing? Press into the message of Christmas, and you?ll find hope and help in time of need.
David Mathis | To read the Bible is to read the very words of God. Do we grasp the significance, the reality-shaking impact, of this seemingly simple truth?
Man of War and Grace: The Greatest of Israel?s Kings
David Mathis | Some may not think of David, the shepherd king, as particularly masculine, but Scripture paints him in a far more manly and glorious light.
Before You Quit the Ministry: Learning to Count Like Jesus
David Mathis | Good pastors are not naive: ministry comes with many costs. Even so, Christ has not called us to an impossible, joyless task. The cross proves otherwise.
What?s It Like to Be a Christian? Faith, Obedience, and Living as Strangers
David Mathis | What is Christian faith? Hebrews 11 not only answers the question but tells us what faith feels like, and how it leads to obedience, and living as exiles in this world.
David Mathis | From principals to presidents, leadership failures fill the news. We long for someone in power to lead with wisdom and fairness. Praise God, the ideal king has come.
David Mathis | Why do Christians sing about blood? Because of what happened at the cross, the otherwise morbid topic becomes one of glory, thanks, and praise.
Do Outsiders Still Matter? An Overlooked Qualification for Pastors
David Mathis | For pastors to be ?well thought of by outsiders? certainly isn?t everything, but it made God?s list of requirements. Is it still on ours?
David Mathis | Neither biographers nor Broadway can ignore Alexander Hamilton?s late-flowering Christian faith. He, like the prodigal son, finally came home after his journey into the far country.
Ordinary Elders, Part 2: Governing as Men Who Teach
David Mathis | Pastors are first and foremost teachers, but they are not only teachers. They feed the sheep and lead the sheep ? and they lead by feeding.
David Mathis | When Christ ascended into heaven, an otherworldly ceremony commenced. Here was the long-awaited Son of David, the only man angels ever worshiped.
David Mathis | When speaking of God, we grope for fresh language to name the greatness of God. Might we learn to reach more often for the word ?majesty??