“Read,” said Harold Ockenga, “to refill the wells of inspiration.”  Every year I catalogue the books I have digested over the past twelve months to see which ones have “filled up my wells.”  Not every book is helpful, not every author is accurate, and not every chapter is inspiring, but if you pick through enough books, you’ll eventually find something to eat.  Like a cheap buffet, sometimes you have to pass over a ton of food to get the right entrée on your plate.  You can’t take it all in, and you’re not supposed to.  Sir Francis Bacon said it …

What an honor it was for me to have Cary Schmidt write the foreword to our latest book, The Joy of Devotion.  Pastor Schmidt is a gifted writer, a dynamic speaker, and a great church builder.  God’s hand is on his life in evident fashion.  I was thrilled when he agreed to invest into our book.  I wanted to share the foreword to give a basic understanding of the book’s intention.  Thanks Cary for your influence, passion, and gracious spirit!

Foreword by Cary Schmidt

When the Christian life is, in any way, drained or sanitized of devotion and love, …

Spiritual maturity does not happen overnight, and it will not happen without an intentional effort to seek God in the daily minutiae of life.  God did not redeem us, fill us with His Spirit, and write our names in His book so that we could live joyless, hapless lives.  On the contrary, He has imparted everlasting, victorious, abundant life within our hearts, the kind of life that gives joy unspeakable and full of glory.  But such joy will never exist without His daily presence.

One of the burdens of my heart is to help others grow in their daily walk …

Tempted and Tried by Russell Moore ruined my vacation reading.  I had strategically picked five books in five different categories to feed upon during my down time at Panama City Beach.   My idea of vacation is pretty simple: Feet in the sand, kids in the pool, nose in a book.  I had no idea, however, that the first book I randomly picked from my stack would absolutely mess up those plans.

Moore’s book on the temptation of Christ was a last-minute purchase.  The night before we left, I stumbled upon a blog that featured this title.  It seemed somewhat intriguing …

Preaching is personal.  The preacher who tries to be something different in the pulpit from what he is outside of the pulpit will eventually suffer from an identity crisis.  When public persona doesn’t coincide with private practices, men have trouble remembering who they are.  Life and ministry develops internally. Authentic, Spirit-filled preaching is cultivated before and after the worship service, not during.

It is the burden of my heart to encourage men of God to order their private worlds in such a way that their ministry flows from the inside out. With that notion in mind, I am pleased to …