Well, I made it through my first full week as the senior pastor of a mega-church. And, in spite of more preaching, team meetings, lunches, dinners, consultations and “I just need a minute”-moments than I would have thought possible to fit into a single week, I even managed to finish up this coming weekend’s sermon…so…
Coletta and I were privileged to be able to spend a couple of days last week with the former pastor of Mission Hills Church, Mike Romberger, and his wife, Jane. They were both very gracious in welcoming us and spending a very sizable chunk of their valuable time telling us their story and answering our questions.…
I have always liked big churches. I realize that’s not really the “in” thing to say, but it’s the honest truth. What I like about big churches isn’t necessarily spiritual, just personal. I like the resources big churches have to do big things for God. I like the momentum big churches have to keep moving forward…
This week saw the release of the 7th horrifying video detailing the practices of Planned Parenthood’s abortion and “harvesting” practices. Personally, I cannot watch it. While the vast majority of Christians are rightly opposed to abortion, the question of how best to respond to Planned Parenthood is complicated. On the one hand, some Christians…
Hey Dr. Smith, I have a question. I’m doing a NT theology paper on the theology of 2 Peter & Jude, but I’m also preaching this weekend at our church. Jude 12 talks about “love feasts,” I’m curious if you believe this is referring to communion or not? I am inclined to think so, esp.…
Anyone who has read the Bible with serious intent to understand it will almost certainly have come across the occasional strange annotation, often in a footnote, that says something like “Many manuscripts…” or “the earliest manuscripts and many others…”, followed by a reading that differs a bit from what’s in the body of the text.…
Several news outlets are reporting that biblical scholars Craig Evans and Daniel Wallace are working with a team that may have uncovered the earliest known copy of the Gospel of Mark. You can see full articles with all the details here and here. In short, this fragment of the Gospel of Mark has been found in a paper mache…
Here’s an interesting question I was recently asked to address: how do we know that the serpent in Eden (Genesis 3:1) was actually the devil? A distinct, but closely related question that I’ve been asked at other times is this: is the serpent in Genesis 3 literal or symbolic? The first question is rather easily…
We all know the old adage: if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. But what about when the thing that looks too good to be true comes from someone we have every reason to trust explicitly, like Jesus? In John 14:13-14, it is reported that Jesus said this: “Whatever you ask…
In the past few years, interest in the Book of Enoch (also called Enoch and 1 Enoch) has experienced something of a revival. It is referenced in numerous popular fiction works that make use of the Nephilim and is even quoted in what appears to be an authoritative way by some supposedly Christian teachers like…