For Tom Brady, football has become religion. No, really.
Bob Smietana:
Brady and his New England Patriots teammates are favored to win Super Bowl LII, which would be their sixth NFL championship in eight tries under Brady and Coach Bill Belichick.
But Brady is after something bigger than football, said his friend Gotham Chopra — something bigger than wins and losses.
Brady’s on a spiritual quest.
Reflections on the Megachurch
Ed Stetzer:
Obviously, for too many pastors, church attendance is connected with personal self-worth and value. They make numbers an idol instead of a metric. However, milestones are important for observing impact—that’s what we are trying to do here. To learn so others can learn and to celebrate so others can be encouraged.
Help, I’m Exhausted by Social Media
Stephen Altrogge:
It’s like eating a big bowl of depression soup. By the time I log off, I feel like I’ve watched the world’s worst movie—a tragedy interspersed with random, non-sequitur moments of comedy.
But why specifically does social media leave me so dried up? Because of callings, burdens, and borders.
When the Money Runs Out
Kole Farney:
Financial stress is to the mind as nausea is to the stomach—uncomfortable and impossible to ignore. If you are a Christian, it can be even worse because you know you’re supposed to trust God, and yet you instinctively worry, “What am I going to do?” “We’re not going to make it!”
There’s More to the Gospel Than Forgiveness
This interview with Rachael Denhollander is challenging:
The reason I lost my church was not specifically because I spoke up. It was because we were advocating for other victims of sexual assault within the evangelical community, crimes which had been perpetrated by people in the church and whose abuse had been enabled, very clearly, by prominent leaders in the evangelical community. That is not a message that evangelical leaders want to hear, because it would cost to speak out about the community. It would cost to take a stand against these very prominent leaders, despite the fact that the situation we were dealing with is widely recognized as one of the worst, if not the worst, instances of evangelical cover-up of sexual abuse. Because I had taken that position, and because we were not in agreement with our church’s support of this organization and these leaders, it cost us dearly.
Longing for likes: How to capture the hearts of Gen Z with a greater love
Jared Kennedy:
The message appears on the big screen: “Please silence your electronic devices.” And amazingly the people obey. Moments before, they were texting, tweeting, and posting pictures on Instagram. But now they’re putting their phones in airplane mode. Ironically, the middle school girl, an iconic representative of the most tech-savvy, hyper-connected generation in history, is elbowing her dad: “Put it away. The show’s about to start.” When they go to the theater, even Generation Z, the iGeneration, stops to sit still. They’re transfixed by a story.
Pastoring, writing pastorally, and recognizing the difference
A favorite from the archives:
When I preach, I am seeking to minister to others in a pastoral way. It is always my aim to feed, strengthen and challenge those who are hearing. So there is a connection to pastoral ministry that simply comes with the territory.
In the same way, when I write, I’m not doing it because I enjoy reading my own words. I write out of a desire to build up other believers (as we’re all to do according to 1 Thessalonians 5:11)—to encourage, challenge, inspire and hopefully point people to Jesus above all. So, when I write, my aim is to write pastorally.
But I don’t write as a pastor. Though I care for those who hear me when I speak and those who find my writing helpful, I am not charged with giving watch over their souls (Hebrews 13:17). Their pastor, however, is.
