• Redeeming Church Conflicts,  Relationships & Peacemaking,  Sin & Repentance

    Ministers are Suspicious, Insecure and Jealous People

    Or so says, Rev. Dr. Ligon Duncan in a sermon that I encourage every one of you to listen to: Who is the Greatest? (Taken from Luke 9:46-56 ESV …) An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side and said to them, “Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For he who is least among you all is the one who is great.” John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we…

  • Momma Tara~Parenting

    Does Motherhood Narrow the Mind?

    Last week, in our church’s Introduction to Theology and Logic class, I was privileged to discuss three extremely important topics with three extremely wonderful pre-teen girls: The Ordo Salutis God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Free Will The Problem of Evil I hadn’t planned on discussing these topics–but I teach by the Socratic method and thus, I go where the class takes us. And our initial discussion (that I had planned for the day) on whether you can prove Christianity scientifically landed us smack-dab on top of the three topics above. So that’s what we spend the majority of our time on—on those topics and looking at Ephesians 1. As I debriefed with the girls’ mothers after class,…

  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    If you do not live a life marked by love toward others, the Bible has no encouragement for you to think that you’re a Christian. None.

    Quoting from Stop Dating the Church (by Joshua Harris): “To be part of the universal church isn’t enough … Every Christian is called to be passionately committed to a specific local church. Why? Because the local church is the key to spiritual health and growth for a Christian. And because as the visible ‘body of Christ’ in the world, the local church is central to God’s plan for every generation.” Quoting Mark Dever from a talk he frequently gives on college campuses about the local church … “… in the New Testament it seems that the local church is there to verify or falsify our claims to be Christians. The…

  • Redeeming Church Conflicts

    A Multitude of Faithful, Risk-Taking, Plodders …

    Yesterday, I was researching something for one of my pastors and I came across a bunch of emails from one of the hardest-working women in our little church. Her wisdom, wit, and passion (along with her faithful, long-term service to our church family) reminded me of one of my favorite Kevin DeYoung articles that I encourage you to read in its entirety:  The Glory of Plodding A few snippets to hopefully tempt you to click through: “The best churches are full of gospel-saturated people holding tenaciously to a vision of godly obedience and God’s glory, and pursuing that godliness and glory with relentless, often unnoticed, plodding consistency … That’s my dream for…

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  • Hope in Suffering,  Momma Tara~Parenting

    Remembering As We Are Dying

    Easter always makes me think a lot about death. Of course, Good Friday is the main impetus for my thoughts. The worst day ever, leading to the best day ever. But I also think about our second child who slipped from my womb the afternoon of Easter, 2007. The Day of Life reminds me of death. Every year. Plus, I miss my mom. Sure, she was all about the bonnets and the gloves and the bunnies—what we call “Springtime Fun” in our home (as opposed to the Real Easter). But it was still very spring-y and very fun. So I miss her smoker’s laugh at the girls’ egg-hunting, baskets-overflowing hilarity. I…