A friend of mine (and a wonderful Christian conciliator and professional counselor), Dr. Andrew Selle once shared with me a few brief thoughts on friendship, ideas that he adapted from his friend Joanie Doe (a pastor’s wife in Virginia). He actually had another page of material on the topic that he gave me, but for now I will share just a few lines with you with the hope that we all might be thinking about how we can grow even more God-honoring, gospel-proclaiming, REAL friendships today: What is a friend like? – CONSISTENT: You are there for your friend. Consistency which is borne out of commitment. – HONEST: You are honest…

David Powlison: ‘Those who lack friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their own hearts….This communicating of a man’s self to his friends works two contrary effects; for it redoubles joys and cuts griefs in half.’ (Francis Bacon, ‘Of Friendship,’ 1625) A former pastor of mine often reminded us of these truths and called us to genuine, authentic friendship (the “one anothering” of Scripture).  I am praying that even today I will BE a friend and GROW even just one or two friendships a little more in grace and intimacy. For it really is not good to be alone. Blessings on your Tuesday! Yours, Tara B. 

We just finished our afternoon peacemaking training and we’re about to start the marriage retreat. What a JOY it was to spend time with the leadership of this church! What an honor. Their love for God and the Church–and their interest in biblical peacemaking reminded me of this article by Ajith Fernando. Hope you enjoy! Yours, Tara B. ———- LEADERS AS IN-HOUSE PEACEMAKERS by Ajith Fernando I have found that one of the most important roles of leaders is to be “in-house peacemakers,” that is, to lead in solving unity problems within the group they lead. This priority is seen in the high priestly prayer of Jesus when he prayed…

Well … I tried my best to present a new teaching this afternoon in a sensitive, biblically-faithful, honest, gospel-focused way: Persevering with Grace When our Leaders Let Us Down: As wonderful as headship is (and it is wonderful!), our leaders are not perfect. No matter how hard they try, their leadership of us will always be flawed. They may misunderstand us, take offense at something we do or say, or simply not like our personality. In their fallenness and sin, they may actually wrong us intentionally. Often, they hurt us most deeply by their neglect—they fail to give us the proactive attention and care we long for. So how do…