• Church Life

    The Easiest Thing for a Christian to Do (and Maybe Salve His/Her Conscience)

    I would like to say that this post will be short and sweet. I do intend for it to be short, but I am afraid that some who read it will think that it is not too sweet. I wish that I could tell you the name of the person to blame for this if that, indeed, is your opinion. It might take some of the heat off of me. Unfortunately, I have no idea where I got this idea, but it has stuck with me for  many years. Before I let you in on the secret, let me make some observations and/or clear up some possible misunderstandings. First, I…

  • Church Life,  Trust God

    Death to Life

    Christians are familiar with the concept of trying to live like Jesus. The whole purpose in calling ourselves “Christians” is to be affiliated with His person, His gospel, His hope, and His life. Often, we (or at least I) think about this through my daily decisions on things like how to reach people or the example I try to set around others. We all want to love like Jesus, give like Jesus, and have compassion like Jesus. One thing we often don’t want to do is sacrifice like Jesus. However, if we want the blessings of Jesus, we need to consider how we can do this in our daily lives. …

  • Family,  Parenting

    Parents, Who Wins?

    For almost 10 years, I was a youth minister. I have also been blessed wherever I have preached to be at congregations that wanted me to have an active part in the youth ministry. And, of course, I am a parent, so I have a vested interest in the health of young people. For all those years, there has been something that I have never understood about many Christian parents, and it has to do with their children’s attendance at worship, Bible classes, and youth activities. When their kids miss things, parents often give an excuse, but, if they would just think through what they are saying, their speech could…

  • Church Life,  Trust God

    How Do You Walk?

    Some who read this will know that Donna and I live in a neighborhood in which quite a few people get their exercise by walking. Some are accompanied by a dog or two. Now that the weather is becoming more and more mild, there seems to be more people walking by our house. When we are sitting in our sunroom, its windows provide a wonderful view of part of our neighborhood and of those who are walking its streets. Due to the fact that we’ve lived here for a number of years now, we now recognize those who make walking a regular part of what they do.  It is interesting…

  • Bible study,  Church Leadership,  Church Life

    Some Thoughts on “Restudying the Issue”

    Every so often, word will spread that a congregation has made a massive change. Maybe the congregation has decided to appoint female elders or deacons. Maybe the congregation has decided to allow mechanical instruments of music in worship. These and other similar issues are often made with a big statement by the elders (or by the preacher) along with words such as “after restudying the issue…”. Very often, the leaders will speak of how they have been studying this for some time, usually about a year. Immediately, many push back on that phrase, “restudying the issue.” The reason, it seems to me, is that it is almost exclusively used at…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism

    The Parable of the FedEx Dropbox

    A few weeks ago I needed to return something to a company and was advised to do so at a FedEx dropbox. The instructions I was given informed me about the location of the specific dropbox which was to be used. According to those instructions, the dropbox was in the parking lot of a small shopping center with which both Donna and I are very familiar. It is not at all unusual for one of us to “make a run” to a Kroger store which is in that shopping center.  With all of that being true, neither Donna nor I could remember ever seeing a FedEx dropbox anywhere in that…

  • Bible study,  Church Leadership,  Church Life

    A Proverb and the Bible School Program

    Leah and I both have a passion for a church’s Bible school program. And our passion for it works out well, because she has such a heart for mostly children’s classes, while I greatly love thinking about teens and adults. We talk often about Bible classes and we try to think about ways to do better–both with our own teaching and in the entire program of work. As we look around congregations (both where we are and other congregations we visit), we see some similar struggles. But there is often one thing that is missing that would help the program improve, and (surprise, surprise) it comes right from the Bible.…

  • Church Life,  Evangelism,  Worship

    Which Side of the Door?

    Most of us are probably familiar with a painting and/or some other representation that depicts Jesus standing at a door and knocking. Each of these are intended to be a visual representation of these words found in Revelation 3:20: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me”  There is probably no way to estimate the number of applications that have been made of this text or of the painting. Most of them have to do with the desire of Jesus to have a relationship with us (and…

  • Legacy of Faith Podcast,  Marriage

    Episode 168: Helping Your Spouse Love God [Podcast]

    https://media.blubrry.com/faughnfamily/content.blubrry.com/faughnfamily/Helping_Your_Spouse_Love_God.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSubscribe: RSS (Player not displaying or working? Click here to listen on the site.) Based on some classes they recently taught for a marriage seminar, Adam and Leah share some tips for helping spouses love God. If you would like to see the video format of this program, click here.

  • Church Life,  Trust God

    A Song of Hope and Peace

    We live in a time when many people don’t seem to have hope in this world. They are faced with illnesses, financial difficulties, housing difficulties, family issues, marital problems, age-related issues, and the list could go on and on. Our world seems broken with all of the national and international problems we see on the news. It seems as though many have turned their back on God, just like those Jews of old who did not obey God, but bowed down to idols. There are times when I see and feel the pressures of this life, and even though I am a firm believer in God and His plan for my life,…