Do We Worship the Creation or the Creator?

On May 27, 2009, the world’s largest worship venue opened in Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. With close to 30,000 parking spaces, the ability to hold 110,000 people, a state-of-the-art sound system, and a gigantic center-hung, high-definition television screen that measures 160 x 72 feet, it is the perfect location to gather, sing, shout, […]

Enron & Your Church

The Enron scandal is perhaps the most documented case of corporate greed, cover-up, and dishonesty. The lack of integrity displayed by Enron executives robbed people of millions of dollars and led, at that time, the largest corporate bankruptcy in U.S. history. In the midst of the scandal, proudly displayed in the lobby at Enron were […]

Stories and Heroes

Two weeks ago, Matt Chandler, Josh Patterson, and I led a time of teaching and discussion centered around our new book Creature of the Word. We challenged leaders to center their churches, not merely their confessions, on Jesus. One of the questions from the audience revolved around analyzing and changing the culture of a church. […]

Culture Reveals What Is Truly Important

Since the 1950s, mountain climbers have traveled to Everest to stand on top of the world. They endure horrific conditions on a grueling climb to the top, including a difficult passage through the “death zone” where lack of oxygen leads to exhaustion and the extreme cold will cause frostbite to any exposed part of the […]

Four Keys to Better Church Hospitality

As my family visited churches upon moving to Nashville, we were blown away by the differences in hospitality to first time guests. In some churches we knew exactly where to park, were graciously welcomed, escorted to the children’s area to drop off our kids, and introduced to several helpful people. In other churches, we had […]

Creature of the Word

I have been honored to team up with Matt Chandler and Josh Patterson on our new book, Creature of the Word. Prayerfully, we believe the book will encourage and challenge church leaders and be a blessing to local churches. Frankly, many churches have a gospel-centered doctrine without a gospel-centered culture. The Reformers, however, viewed the […]