Silence for a season is a gift God gives us to help us listen more attentively to the voice of his love and mercy. It is impossible to hear God while we are doing the talking, a lesson Peter painfully learned on the Mount of Transfiguration. Overcome by the splendor of the scene, he spoke out passionately, but also imprudently. God silenced Peter, interrupting with an admonishing but merciful rebuke: ‘This is my Beloved Son! Listen to him!’ (Mark 9:7). The prophets also knew that their first priority was listening in silence rather than speaking in the Temple. Isaiah wrote,... Read this post

Mark’s Gospel contains a terrifying account of an attempt by dark powers to destroy a covenant child by throwing him into fire and water. His father brought him to Jesus for deliverance. ‘It has often cast him into fire and water seeking to destroy him…” – Mark 9 This is how a desperate father described to Jesus the destructive actions of a dark entity that was afflicting his young son. “It has been like this since childhood”, he says. The boy in question is not a small child but more like a mid to late teen. He’d grown up in... Read this post

My Austin, Texas friend Kevin Lance Lawhon is a celibate believer who lives with persistent SSA, is a PCA member, and SUPPORTS the Nashville Statement. Kevin commented on one of my Nashville Statment articles and I asked for and received his permission to post his comments as an addendum to the blogs I’d written already. I especially appreciate his remarks on identity – something those here who know of the talks on Clarity and Charity that I’m preparing will have heard me say many times. PLEASE read his excellent contribution to this discussion. Thank you! And ‘Thanks’ especially to Kevin!... Read this post

This is the final blog post I will write on why I could not sign the Nashville Statement or vote in favor of commending it during the recent PCA General Assembly. It may be hard for some to imagine or understand that a person could be in agreement with 95% of a doctrinal statement on a matter and still be unable to sign it; no statement, after all, is perfect. I do agree with the vast majority of what the Statement proclaims, but my reservations are enough to make me pause. My objections outlined in the two previous posts have... Read this post

This is from the General Assembly message, last Thursday. What a generation we live in – a generation of great opportunity! 42% of the world’s population is under 25, half in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The median age of the global population is 28. The average Christian in the world is not male but female, not white but brown or black, third-world, not first-world…and far more Pentecostal than Presbyterian. The “average” Christian in the world today is a 22-year old brown female. She has not been to a Passion conference; she has not read CS Lewis or Christianity Today;... Read this post

When I first opened the Nashville Statement almost three years ago I did so with hopeful expectation. Given the lofty reputation of many of the document’s original signers, I was confident that a comprehensive Statement would be offered, proving helpful to many. While much of what I read was very good, I was shocked by the Statement’s silence. I immediately looked for a note of humility, acknowledging the church’s failure to lovingly make Christ known in its ministry to LGBTQ people, often engaging personally and as congregations in behaviors that were demeaning. Beginning with repentance for the log in one’s... Read this post

In its General Assembly last week the PCA voted to commend the Nashville Statment as a Faithful and Biblical summary of Christan teaching on human sexuality. I have many reasons why I believe this was a mistake and I will outline those in brief over the next few days. First of all, the PCA simply has no need to take up the Nashville Statement at all and should’ve simply ignored it. Why? Let us imagine that once upon a time an inter-denominational group of Evangelical leaders met in a major US city to craft a ‘Statement’ consisting of affirmations and... Read this post

We’ve just celebrated Pentecost Sunday. So much can be said about this great event in our history, but let me focus on the issue of prayer. “Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James. All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together... Read this post

The Risen One has ascended on high and is enthroned in splendor at the Fathers right hand. One of ours is on the Throne of God. He who eschewed power so that he might serve and suffer has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. The scepter of his kingdom holds sway in the Church and over all the cosmos. Angels bow and all heaven cries out, “Holy!” before his throne. His first Royal Act was to pour out the Spirit in his Church and while Pentecost – which we celebrate ten days from now – cannot be... Read this post

Prayer on the Third Day of the Week And God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth.” And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And there was evening and there was morning, the third day. – Genesis 1:11-13 When I gave my compost bin a spin today the door... Read this post