God Is Enough: A Theology of the Book of Job
The book of Job has rightly earned a place among the great works of classical literature. For over two millennia its dramatic language, powerful metaphors, elegant poetry, lofty ethics, and profound ideas have intrigued philosophers, theologians, and laymen alike. Yet the Book of Job is more than a great piece of human literature. As part of the canon of Scripture, the book constitutes divine revelation. Read more
Ancient Near Eastern Religion and the Old Testament
The discovery and publication of ancient Near Eastern literature has shed much light upon the religious beliefs and practices of earliest civilization. It has also generated much discussion about the relationship of Mesopotamian and Egyptian religion to that of the Old Testament. Indeed, many scholars view the similarities in cosmogonies, flood accounts, cultic ritual, legal texts, wisdom literature, and belief in the afterlife as proof that the Old Testament writers borrowed from or adapted the literary corpus of Israel’s Near Eastern neighbors. As a result, Old Testament religion is treated as essentially one more primitive religion among many, Read more 
Good But Not (Yet) Tame: A Theodicy for Animal Death Before the Fall
All Bible scholars agree that plant life was subject to “death” before the Fall since it was to serve as food for man and beast (Gen 1:29-30). Moreover, most conservative scholars trace the origin of human death to God’s judicial curse upon the human race as a result of the Fall (Gen 3:17-19). However, the Bible nowhere explicitly links the origin of all animal death to Adam’s sin. This leaves open the possibility that some of the creatures alluded to in Genesis 1 were carnivorous. If so, we should view the phenomenon of animal predation as creational rather than as curse. Yet, a challenge remains. How can we reconcile a world “red in tooth and claw” with a created world that God assessed as “very good” (Gen 1:31)? Read more
A Brief Theology of Human Death
The Bible portrays death as the consequence of human sin. Death was the sanction that God tied to the Garden of Eden stipulation: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). And God’s expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden on account of their covenant breach and treason demonstrated that His threats were not empty. Death became the lot of Adam and his posterity. To borrow the apostle Paul’s language in Romans 6:23: “The wages of sin [became] death.” Read more
Making Disciples: Purposing Reproduction and Practicing Replication
Pastor Bob Selph of Grace Baptist Church in Taylors SC gave two lectures on the subject of “making disciples” for our course on Church Ministry. In the first lecture entitled “Purposing Reproduction,” Bob discusses the biblical basis and importance of discipleship as a vital facet of the church’s ministry. He focuses on the practical ways in which the pastor and church members may disciple one another in his second lecture entitled ”Practicing Replication.” If you’re a church leader and are seeking to equip the saints for works of ministry as well as training future gospel laborers, I heartily commend these lectures. Read more
Communication That Connects: Our Preaching, Bible Version, Confession, Branding, and Songs
In the previous installments of this series, I’ve addressed the importance, definition, and biblical support for accommodating our gospel communication to make it intelligible to the people we’re trying to reach.1 Below I’d like to highlight five different areas in which we should seek to apply this principle of accommodation to the way we communicate biblical truth in church ministry. Read more
What If Your Church Isn’t Big?
Christians should not despise quantitative church growth. Quite the opposite. We should desire it. Part of our commission as a church is to “make disciples.” And it normally takes disciples to make disciples. In other words, we cannot view human resources and financial resources as totally irrelevant. If our church is to impact our community for the gospel, to minister to the poor, to train gospel laborers, to see new churches planted, and to send out missionaries, we should long and labor for healthy church growth of the numerical kind.1 Read more
- See my articles “Who’s Afraid of Church Growth?” and “Contextualization & Church Ministry: Does It Matter?“ [↩]
Communication That Connects: God Accommodates and So Must We
Why should we endeavor to communicate gospel truth in a way that’s clear and intelligible to our target audience? Below I’d like to provide two biblical arguments to support the idea of contextualized communication. The first highlights God’s own manner of communicating to humans. The second underscores the biblical mandate that obligates us to follow our heavenly Father’s example.1 Read more
- Further support is offered in my series “Contextualization & Church Ministry.” [↩]
Our Church’s Journey in Evangelism – Gary Hendrix
Our recent module on church ministry included an emphasis on evangelistic outreach. We invited Pastor Gary Hendrix, who has over 30 years of pastoral experience, to address the topic and to share with our students his church’s journey in evangelism. In this lecture Pastor Hendrix emphasizes the importance of pastors training and mobilizing their people to engage the lost with the gospel in ways that are appropriate to their gifts, maturity, and the providential opportunities God has placed before them. If you want your church ministry to cultivate an outward focus, I highly recommend the free video message below. Read more
Communication That Connects: Defined and Described
In an earlier post, I stressed the importance of presenting the truth gospel to our target audience in a way that’s clear and intelligible. I referred to this as “communication that connects.” But what precisely do I mean by that phrase? Below I’ll attempt to offer a definition and a description of what such accommodated communication looks like. In subsequent posts, I’ll adduce some biblical arguments and suggest some practical applications for church ministry. Read more
