God’s role in superintending our world and our lives is neither absentee landlord nor micromanager.

While some misuse their freedom to perpetrate evil, millions respond by feeling compelled to use their freedom to do good.

The senseless killing of 20 children and their teachers and principal at Sandy Hook Elementary School was not part of God’s grand plan. It was a thwarting of God’s plan. It was the misuse of...

I’m convinced many of America’s heroes are public school teachers and administrators. Many of these people do what they do because of their faith.

My aim is that every sermon series I preach is prepared as though I were teaching a college-level course.

Why did the earthquake and tsunami occur in Japan? Was it the act of an angry God? No, it was the result of the movement and collision of the earth’s tectonic plates – a process...

Those who are believers in God find strength from their faith in the face of suffering. They are compelled to give sacrificially to help those in need. And they have the hope that comes from...

I think anger is a normal response to something horrible that someone has done, another human being has done, and to rob people of life, and that’s actually healthy to have, to feel that. At...

The earliest stories in Genesis were not written to tell primeval history. They were written to tell readers about themselves and about God.

Everything doesn’t happen for a reason, if by this we mean evil is a part of God’s plan. But God does ensure that evil will not prevail and that light will always, ultimately, overcome the...

When people ask me if I’m liberal or conservative, I say, ‘Yeah.’ I’m both of them. To be a liberal means to be open-minded and generous and open to new ideas. And to be conservative...

I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true, and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it’s already accepted to be true, they don’t...

You are not indispensable to your church, but you are indispensable to your family.

If God is not sending earthquakes, destroying economies and inflicting pain upon human beings, what is God doing? God works through people, calling them to help their neighbors in need. God comforts His people, walking...

Many Christians do not believe God sends tornadoes. But they do believe that God walks with His children through the storms, that He sends His people to help after the storms, and that with and...

I suspect that here theists and atheists would agree: Human beings have within them the ability to choose evil or good. We wake up each day facing the age-old struggle of good and evil. In...

Frequent prayer has great value. On its surface, this sounds simplistic. But if we’re to keep prayer at the forefront of our ministry, we and our people have to pray again and again.

In America our public schools are intended to be religiously neutral. Our teachers and schools are neither to endorse nor to inhibit religion. I believe this is a very good thing.

The religious neutrality in our schools is, I would argue, one of our strengths. Teachers cannot inhibit or deride religion. But this does not mean that we’ve taken God out of public schools. I’m reminded...

We live on a planet that is amazing, beautiful, and full of wonder but not protected from powerful destructive forces of nature. We are capable of doing wonderful and selfless things but also self-absorbed and...

I am a follower of Jesus Christ. The Bible is my primary way of knowing Him and what it means to follow Him. And I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible...

The story of Noah, like other stories in the first 11 chapters of Genesis, are archetypal. Noah’s story tells us that human beings have an inherent tendency towards violence both towards their fellow human beings...

We live in bodies that are fearfully and wonderfully made, yet they are not immune to illness and pain. We have hearts that are capable of experiencing great love, but sometimes they get broken.

We don’t need mandatory, non-sectarian prayers read over the loudspeaker to ‘put God back in schools.’ God never left the schools. God is still at work through the hundreds of thousands of gifted teachers and...

One thing that helps to stretch me is to listen to other preacher’s sermons. Every year, I will listen to at least ten other preachers, both to hear God speak to me, and also to...

I am a pastor, and I teach and preach the Bible to my congregation every week. But the Bible is not a manufacturer’s handbook. Neither is it a science textbook nor a guidebook for public...

When my kids were growing up, I wanted their teachers to teach them science, reading, math and history. I also wanted them to care about my kids. But I did not want my children’s public...

God seeks to influence humanity. This is at the heart of the Christmas story. It is the story of light coming into the darkness, of a Savior to show us the way, of light overcoming...

Our society is divided by the culture wars into the Left and Right, and the United Methodist Church has always stood historically in the center and has been willing to listen to and to bring...

The Bible calls us to love our neighbors, and to do justice and love kindness, not to indiscriminately kill one another.

When sermons start where people live – their questions, struggles, and concerns – and then offer a timely and helpful word from the Scriptures, people are more interested in hearing what else the Scriptures have...

As a pastor, I have a deep desire to lead people to God and encourage people to pray, read the Bible, and carry their faith into every part of their lives.

People are drawn to preaching that is passionate and offered with conviction. Passion comes when the preacher has spent significant time with the text, and when God has spoken through the text in a way...

Christians believe that God is everywhere and is involved in our lives at every moment, whether we publicly acknowledge God or not.

Learning to read the Bible in the light of the times in which it was written is critical.

Jesus’ own witness of sacrificial love and forgiveness, and his work to heal the sick and care for those in need, represent God’s ways and vision for us.

Reading the Bible carefully, critically in the light of its historical circumstances, recognizing its humanity while hearing God speak through it, we find that we can turn to its highest aspirations and its most profound...

Effective preaching starts with loving the people we’re preaching to.

God seldom suspends the laws of nature, just as God does not remove free will to keep evil people from doing evil things.

If ‘everything happens for a reason,’ then every act of evil is ultimately God’s doing.

Some Christians see the biblical teaching on homosexuality as reflecting the culture and times in which the Bible was written and not reflecting God’s eternal perspective on homosexual people. Others believe these scriptures represent God’s...

I love the Bible. I read it every day. I spend 10 hours a week studying it. It has affected my life in profound ways. I am inspired when I read it.