I still remember the day I thought I had become a heretic. I was in my second year of seminary learning…
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By all accounts, humility ranks as one of the most important virtues of the Christian life. In his classic book Humility: The Beauty of Holiness, Andrew Murray famously…
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I remember when I heard the news that my teacher passed away.
I took Japanese dancing lessons from this teacher for several years in the past. It was an original style that she came up with and called “praise dancing.” She was…
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My parents were pastors in a little town in Cuba where I grew up. When I was three years old, my father was arrested because he was a pastor. He was released three years later, and that was the first time I remember seeing my father…
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For far too long, I lived under the strong impression that worship was an exclusive, two-way relationship between Christians and God. My idea of worship was…
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Soon after my husband and I planted a church in the center of Tokyo, I was…
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After graduating from college, I worked for a year. I came to this church when God led me to Beijing to prepare for graduate studies abroad. At that time…
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First, the bad news is that we are separated from God. This is evidenced by the fact that we are all (even non-religious people) trying to save ourselves by…
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Han Baolong, a Chinese pastor living in Canada, once said, “We suffer from different things in our lives and we believe God’s will is behind all of them.” Sometimes God’s will is known to…
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Since the day I turned to Christ I knew I wanted to serve God. What I did not see myself doing, however, was becoming a pastor. I had thought about it, but…
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Very early on, as I began to understand my role as a follower of Christ in the contemporary art world, I felt I had to really challenge the assumption of scarcity…
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I'm passionate about answering people's questions, and I particularly enjoy helping people see how the gospel comes to bear on those questions—not in a simplistic way, but in a way that brings a sense of resolution. It’s interesting to…
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One of my most memorable theater experiences was taking one of my boys to see Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, a Broadway show based on J.K. Rowling’s famous book series. My wife, who is bewilderingly lucky, won the ticket lottery again and got me and my son two seats—first row, house right. We felt like kings…
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Of all of the lessons I’ve learned from being a pastor, perhaps the most important was recognizing the skewed standard I used to define my spiritual success. I remember it clearly—my wife had the most direct, bitter taste of this sin in my life.
On November 9, 2015, I found my wife…
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When the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, a prominent concern was mental health—the depression, anxiety, stress, and fear that people would experience living in isolation away from their loved ones and friends, coworkers and clients, and church communities. But as we…
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Leadership is stewardship—the cultivation of the resources God has entrusted to us for his glory. The Sabbath gives us both theological and practical help in managing one of our primary resources— our time.
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When defining the “inner life” of a person in general and of a pastor in particular, we need to understand there is more to it than just Bible reading and prayer. The inner life disciplines can be understood as all those activities that strengthen us spiritually and prepare us for the work of outward ministry where our energy is spent…
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In these challenging days, do you often feel isolated as a ministry leader? Frustrated? Completely overwhelmed? Do you worry and obsess about loved ones, friends, children, and family? It seems impossible not to. But I want to share with you a great encouragement…
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