Exploring Faith and Spirituality

Religion

Pastor, Be Opportunistic

My coffee had gone cold as the church planter mourned that his church felt stagnant. Worse than not growing—a thick malaise had settled over the congregation. The first three years were exciting; ...

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‘Mosquito Bowl’: Football Stars on the Front Lines

Peter Berg’s The Mosquito Bowl is essentially Friday Night Lights meets Hacksaw Ridge. It’s a movie with the same creative vibe as Friday Night Lights (gritty handheld camera, muted color palette, ...

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Ministry and Marriage: How to Be a Healthy Team

Marriages with one or both spouses employed in ministry face unique pressures, challenges, and opportunities. Over the years, we change, our ministries change, and the pressures on us change. How c...

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How a Former Prisoner in Iran Wants You to Pray for Christians in Chains

Not long ago, I had a surreal phone call with two young Christian men serving prison sentences in one of Iran’s hardest prisons. They’re there because they refuse to stop preaching about Jesus. Wh...

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Beware Making Mental Illness an Identity

In the years since he was involuntarily committed to a mental health institution for bipolar disorder, Frederik deBoer has wrestled with both profound gratitude for a system that saved his life and...

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The Dangers of Getting Advice from the Internet

Melissa and Courtney discuss how to cultivate discernment when seeking advice. They talk about how sometimes we think we need information when what we really need is relationship. They discuss wha...

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The Devils review – Ken Russell’s 1971 possessed-nuns tale is a frenzied aria of confrontation and hysteria

Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave put in the performances of their lives in this film originally banned for obscenity that highlights the violence of power‘I could never be Satan’s boy. I haven’t th...

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Best Practices from Evangelistically Effective Churches

https://media.thegospelcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/23102213/effective-evangelism.mp3 In the summer of 2021, pastor Luke Peterson moved to Columbus, Ohio, to look for lost people. ...

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If the Church Did Its Job, Would the Parachurch Exist?

I’ve heard it said more than once: “If the church did its job, the parachurch wouldn’t have to exist.” For instance, I was consulting with a local pastor who wanted to see the church serve people ...

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We Need to Know Our Reformed Roots

What does it mean to be Reformed? The label is used frequently but not always carefully. For some, it simply refers to a particular view of salvation. For others, it evokes a tradition, a culture, ...

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Simon Says: Inconspicuous Evidence of Eyewitnesses in Mark

When I watch Jesus films, whether the current series The Chosen, The Passion of the Christ in the early 2000s, or even Godspell from the 1970s, I can’t help but ask, Where did they get those storie...

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How Can I Find the Motivation to Use My Time Better at Work?

I work for a property management company that oversees retail space. I haven’t been doing this very long, but I’m finding that I’m not as productive as I’d like to be. Often, entertainment and fear...

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On My Shelf: Life and Books with L. Michael Morales

On My Shelf helps you get to know various writers through a behind-the-scenes glimpse into their lives as readers. I asked L. Michael Morales—professor at Greenville Presbyterian Theological Semin...

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Ministry Lessons from the Puritans with Joel Beeke

What can pastors today learn from the Puritans? Matt Smethurst and Ligon Duncan welcome Joel Beeke to discuss the lasting wisdom of Puritan pastors and theologians. Drawing from decades of stu...

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Broken Bodies Make Beautiful Temples

The Lord’s ways are not our ways (Isa. 55:8–9). Do we take this seriously, or do we revert to “our ways” in desperate seasons when we wander from God to seek meaning? I revisit this battle every t...

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What My Grandparents Taught Me About Pastoral Ministry

When I was in high school, and early on during the summers in college, I spent my days working at a local pharmacy. I got a one-hour lunch break, and I ended up going almost every day to lunch at m...

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Gospel Hope for Gen-Z Ministry

Many of us have seen the statistics that Gen Z is the least explicitly Christian or religious generation on record. As a result, we might immediately despair about ministering to this generation. ...

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7 Keys for Thriving in Lifelong Ministry

At the starting line of an Olympic race, nothing looks particularly dramatic. The athletes stand still. The crowd waits. The runners’ muscles are motionless. The track lies open. Then the signal so...

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What You Should Know About the Hebrew Roots Movement

The hiss of the cappuccino machine filled the coffee shop, forcing him to lean in and raise his voice. “Show me,” he said, “where Jesus or the apostles ever told Christians they no longer had to ke...

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Why Humans Pretend to Be Computers

The power behind AI is the perception of objectivity and infallibility. Recently, we saw AI bring a Cornell mathematician to tears as he confronted the meaning of his life’s work and the capabilit...

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‘Fjord’ Is the Best Movie of 2026 So Far

Because evangelical Christians are typically caricatured, villainized, or misunderstood in Hollywood films, the rare movie that dignifies and sympathizes with believers comes as a refreshing shock....

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