There are dozens of references to God in the Scriptures for every one to the figure of Satan. This reflects a sometimes forgotten theological truth that the devil is by no means God's counterpart. He is a creature, not the Creator.

Sometimes, an inability to believe in Satan reflects a larger inability to believe in a spiritual plane at all.

Those of us who preach the Scriptures, along with being nourished by it ourselves, have to figure out along with our congregations how we can incarnate the gospel in our community, or we will preach to a religious ghetto.

Tithing is a bad ceiling but an excellent floor.

It strikes me that presidential campaigns can often bring out the worst as well as the best in us.

The irony is that 'looking down on everybody else' is a violation of the law of love, which, according to Jesus, is the absolute essence of righteousness.

When the soul is understood and attended to, we can be liberated from hurry, preoccupation, unsatisfied desires, and chronic discontent.

When someone is in crisis, don't start by teaching, leveraging, or explaining. Just be with.

I'm not sure ministry can ever have the urgency it requires if it is not aware of evil, both externally and internally.

As a preacher who is fully human, and clearly not divine, I can't speak as Jesus did. But I do seek to speak truth that carries weight and authority. All of us who preach the gospel aspire to speak under the authority of Jesus.

Although the church has often been far too slow to follow his lead, Jesus' insistence that women, as well as men, bear the full image of God has had a way of sparking reform movements across the centuries.

Sometimes in churches somebody will discover a particular vein of spirituality and seek to recruit others into it, or assume a superior position because they have found certain techniques - but no one actually wants to become like them.

There are usually multiple messages that could be preached from the same text.

Churches need to figure out how they will address the spiritual lives of their staffs and leadership teams.

Jesus' life as a foot-washing servant would eventually lead to the adoption of humility as a widely admired virtue.

In the context of worship, amusement is a waste of time and a waste of life, and therefore a form of sin.

Far more books get written about how to get more people in your church than how to get the people already in your church to have more humility and sincere love.

I know that those of us who go into church work are to regard ourselves as servants, are to offer our lives as a gift.

Jesus is why women have traveled continents, spent decades learning a strange language so they could translate the Gospel, planting churches, caring for the sick, educating the illiterate, and marching for the oppressed.

The single dynamic that helps people be most aware of God and most experiencing the fruit of the Spirit is gratitude.

Actually, my character needs to be questioned. On a regular basis. By people who know and love me.

Opposition is an inevitable reality of pastoral life.

When people feel they're getting to speak into what's being preached, there is high built-in motivation to participate.

I need an inspiration that is grounded in reality while thoroughly transcendent.