A Heart Like God’s

Acts 13.22 describes why God chose David to become king of Israel: God made David king, saying, “I have found David … to be a man after my own heart” (NLT). The goal of a Christ follower is to have a heart like God’s. I’ve written before about a prayer that has become part of … Read more

Rejoice in the Lord!

The Apostle Paul was known for encouraging followers of Jesus to rejoice. In 1 Thessalonians 5.16, he wrote, “Rejoice always.” In Philippians 3.1, he wrote, “Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord” (NRSV). Paul added in Philippians 4.4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!” (NRSV). The word “in” is … Read more

“Preach Better Sermons” Replay

Last March, Preaching Rocket conducted a free online event called Preach Better Sermons. Speakers included Andy Stanley, Jeff Foxworthy, Louie Giglio, Perry Noble, Jud Wilhite, Vanable Moody, Dr. Charles Stanley, and Dan Cathy. It was a great event. Afterward, I wrote 5 Takeaways from Preach Better Sermons. Preaching Rocket is replaying the 3-hour online event … Read more

A Tennessee Thanksgiving

In recent years, our holiday tradition has been to travel to Tennessee to visit my family for Thanksgiving, and to stay home, near Joleen’s family, for Christmas. Going to Tennessee gives the kids a great opportunity to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa Willis and other family members! On Wednesday, we picked Ethan up from … Read more

The Discipline of Giving Thanks

The Thanksgiving holiday is a good reminder to be thankful, but we need to practice the discipline of giving thanks everyday. 1 Thessalonians 5.18 says, “Give thanks in every situation because this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (CEB). I’m glad it says “in every situation” rather than “for every situation.” While we … Read more

Giving Our Whole Hearts to God

On Sunday, I handed out cards with an outline of a red heart. At the end of the sermon, I asked people to write in the percentage of their heart they wanted to give God. Of course, the hope is everyone wrote 100%! In reality, I’m sure the percentage fluctuates and it may not even … Read more

13 Factors That Influence Clergy Health

Health and well-being has been a focus of mine over the last several months (most recently, Hitting the Wall). Today, I read that three United Methodist general agencies joined forces to focus on clergy health. The result is a report on 13 Factors That Influence Clergy Health. The intro paragraph from the PDF states … … Read more

Francis Asbury’s Arrival in America

For a while now, I’ve been casually reading American Saint: Francis Asbury and the Methodists by John Wigger. I’m enjoying it, but I also recently began reading Asbury’s three-volume journal (Volume 1, Volume 2, Volume 3). Asbury begins his journal talking about a conference that took place on August 7, 1771 where he made himself … Read more

Choose “Next Time” Over “If Only”

Earlier this week, I blogged about the The Pain of Discipline vs. the Pain of Regret. The pain of discipline is future-oriented, while the pain of regret is past-oriented. Another way to think about it is with the two terms “next time” and if only” (this idea isn’t original with me; I just don’t remember … Read more

Catalyst One Day Came to Pennsylvania!

Yesterday, Joleen and I attended the Catalyst One Day event in Lancaster, PA. It was a great event in which Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel talked about creating healthy organizational cultures. Here are some my favorite quotes from the day, most of which I posted on Twitter … “Healthy people are problem solvers, not problem … Read more