If you have taken the time to read any of my posts this year, I would like to personally thank you.  The intention of this blog is to present biblically-minded principles in a practical, ministry-based format.  Our site-statistics manager has logged the top ten posts over the past year, and I would like to share those posts with you in the order of their popularity.

As I studied and reviewed the statistics,  I found that most of you are interested in articles and thoughts concerning church ministry and personal spiritual formation.  That is interesting to me because those are the …

I love technology, but when it comes to reading books, you can call me old-fashioned.  There is something about holding a book in your hands, turning the pages, highlighting and making notes that just satisfies the ol’ codger in me.  Occasionally I will read a book on my iPad, but I really don’t enjoy it that much.

The Hidden Life of Prayer just may have changed that (at least temporarily).  I recently downloaded this free resource through my Olive Tree App, and to my surprise, I couldn’t stop swiping the pages, ahem… screen.  David MacIntyre, a Scottish preacher and educator, …

“The church of our day has soft-pedaled the doctrine of obedience, either neglecting it altogether or mentioning it only unapologetically and without urgency” –A.W. Tozer

“It’s the quiet life of obedience that will earn a hearing” –Steve Farrar

“As prayer without faith is but a beating of the air, so trust without prayer is but a presumptuous bravado. He that promises to give, and bids us trust his promises, commands us to pray, and expects obedience to his commands.  He will give, but not without our asking” –Thomas Lye

“One of the banes of present-day evangelical Christianity

My wife is a dental hygienist.  She constantly stresses to my family the importance of flossing.  Most people have no problem brushing their teeth multiple times a day, but flossing is another story.  The American Dental Association recommends flossing at least once a day, but a majority of Americans disregard the recommendation.  Brushing alone will not give a person the total dental health that they need.

If this is true in the natural sense, it is certainly true in the spiritual.  From time to time we should do some spiritual flossing.  Oh sure, we have a daily regimen of brushing, …

I recently invited my children to go on a jog with me through the neighborhood.  Strong-willed, growing, and full of energy, they turned the jog into a competition.  As we began the route, one of my sons took off full speed trying to outdo his brother.  We watched as he sped hundreds of feet ahead.  Occasionally he would turn back and give us a smile as though he was winning.  It did not take him long to realize that he could not keep that pace up for 2.5 miles.

Once we caught up to him, he was so winded that …