self

Are you a cheap pastor on social media? There is a phenomenon on social media where someone will offer a command, framed as helpful advice, to an audience who are not likely to be people with whom they have any meaningful relationship. But the nature of their advice is such that a meaningful...
Sharon Sampson
Have you ever heard people say , I just can’t help myself! ? We live in a culture where we often blame shift – to other people, to our circumstances, or to some aspect of ourselves which we think provides an excuse for our lack of self-control. Consider the things we often hear people say when they...
As I was sitting down to write this article initially, there were at that very moment, unbeknownst to me, a hoard of rioters breaking into the Capitol of the United States. In the days that have followed, people living in the US have been at one another’s throats. Every word, every action,...
I fear that much, if not most, counseling in churches hurts people more than it helps them. Why would I say that? I say it because pastors want to be liked and perceived as caring shepherds. Often, that fact overrules the need to push back against what the person perceives to be their problem in...
Blair Smith
"Be holy, for I am holy" ~ 1 Peter 1:16 One of the most difficult things to do is tell the truth...about ourselves. The church prides itself on being a bastion of truth in a world of lies, yet her members often forget that they cannot preserve the truth unless they first preserve it about...