Here are five common rookie pastor mistakes: having high expectations of the church, failing to embrace the church's uniqueness, invoking pastoral authority without earning pastoral credibility, mistaking preference for conviction, and showing fear or anger in the face of opposition.

This article offers wisdom for a pastor in the first year of his ministry: spend time getting to know the flock, do not try and change things, work hard at preaching and teaching, pray for God's help and be patient, and work on being healthy.

This article explains that if Muslims believe Islam's scripture, they should also affirm the authenticity, inerrancy, and trustworthiness of the Bible. The Quran refers to the Bible and identifies pre-Islamic believers as people of the Book. The author argues that there is no verse in the Quran that undermines the Bible.

This article considers what the Bible says about stewardship of the resources God has given us. It explains that everything is God's, unequal distribution of resources is part of God's design, gifts are given for his glory and the good of others, faithfulness is key, and what we do with our resources here will echo for eternity.

This article explains by way of the abortion debate the difference between science and scientism. The latter is the belief that science is not a means to truth but the bearer of truth itself. The article explains that Christians should be leery of scientism.

What do you do if you preach a bad sermon? This article suggests that you embrace your brokenness and need to grow. Carry on preaching, by the grace of God.

This article discusses how a pastor can aim for a balance in shepherding his family and his flock, with special consideration to family life. It calls the pastor to be a joy to live with, to invest his time instead of spending it, and including his family in ministry tasks.

This article considers the importance of pastors shepherding not only the flock but also their family. It advises on how to make the Word of God central in family life.

This article gives thought to the tone of the preacher's voice in preaching, and the impact it has on how the hearing of his message. The article provides suggestions for improving one's tone.

This article raises seven simple ways that churches can pray for missionaries.

This article considers 1 Peter 3:15 and its call for Christians to always be ready to make a defence of their faith. The article stresses the importance of knowing your opponent, and having a basic understanding of philosophy, a handmaiden to theology.

This article offers seven reasons for a pastor to pursue devotion to God.

This article calls for protecting yourself against the harmful effects of pornography. It explains the addictiveness of it, and then four ways to protect yourself from it.

This article reveals the perspective of Spurgeon on suffering in the ministry, that every faithful under-shepherd will be well-acquainted with affliction.

This article underlines the great value of pastors and all Christians to read and study books of godly saints in times gone past.

The parables of Luke 15 reveal the heart of Christ. This article calls for counselling to reflect such a heart by moving toward the messed up people in this life in order to demonstrate the love of Christ.

What are ways your ministry can equip parents with what they need to lead their families? This article suggests a number of tools helpful in this regard, including resource lists made readily available for parents.

This article discusses how parents can be intentional in raising masculine sons and feminine daughters. They should give a clear vision for biblical masculinity and femininity, model it themselves, teach authority, affirm manhood and womanhood, and create moments of training.

This article defines what true spirituality is: the pursuit of God and the things of God, through Christ, by the Spirit, in accordance with the Word. It takes its cue from Colossians 2 and 3.

This article offers a biography of George Whitefield.

This article explains the difference between vain responses to guilt that avoid gospel repentance, and responses that form a pattern of gospel repentance.

This article encourages parents to make wise decisions and set good examples for their families in their choice of media in the home. Parents must stand guard, stimulate and spirituality, spend time with the children. The article lays out five practical questions for parents to consider in creating a strategy for their own families.

This article exposes three misconceptions that Christians have concerning Muslims: most Muslims support terrorism, all Muslim women feel oppressed, and Muslims seek to know a different god than Christians do.

There is a set of misconceptions that most Muslims have about Christians that keep them from considering the gospel. This article highlights three, and how to address them: Christians worship three gods, Christianity is morally corrupt, and "the West" and "the church" are synonymous.

This article reflects on four qualities that must be true for a deacon: he must have dignity, may not be double-tongued, addicted to much wine, or love money.

This article explains the importance of knowing God as you pursue purity. When you know God, you see his purity, his pardon for your sin, and his power to change you.

This article offers nine possible reasons for someone in a season of spiritual drought and in need of refreshment.

This article clarifies the relationship between the terms "Arab" and "Muslim," and how Muslims understand themselves. It describes the processes of Islamization and Arabization. At the end it explains how Christians should respond when they encounter Arabs and Muslims.

This article raises five considerations for a long-term pastorate: the pastor's credibility grows, he can know for certain what the church has been taught and plan his preaching accordingly, he learns how to face a crisis of leadership in the church at various intervals, he will be less tempted to re-use old sermons, and moving is hard on families.

How is a pastor to deal with attacks from fellow ministry leaders, or even members of the flock? This article provides a list of eight points to consider when false accusations, unfair criticism, and slander come at the pastor.

Can the Arabic word Allah be used to refer to the God of the Bible? This article discusses the reason for the question, and provides an answer to it.

This article explains the addictive effect that pornography has on the male brain. It acts as a drug.

This article urges husbands to be the spiritual leaders in their marriages, according to Ephesians 5:25-28. It provides several ways in which husbands can lead their wives spiritually.

This article stresses the importance of husbands leading their wives in intimacy, especially in three areas: being set apart from sin, having the Spirit redeem your desires, and prioritizing oneness with your wife.

Leading in congregational prayer is an important yet challenging task for the pastor. This article suggests five priorities for the pastor as he prepares for public prayer.

This article outlines ten practical and scriptural guidelines for functioning well in leadership positions in the church.

This article considers the value of husbands routinely dating their wives. It provides a series of steps to take in this matter.

What does it mean for husbands to lay down their lives for their wives? This article explains that husbands are to anchor their love and leadership in Christ. It urges them to study their wives, and to make intentional efforts based on what is learned, and to examine the marriage regularly.

This article points out the responsibility that husbands have to be the first in their marriages to repent and forgive.

This article discusses what cruciform, or cross-centered, parenting looks like. It confronts rather than ignores sin in the life of the children. It trains the children toward moral and physical courage.

This article explains that according to Ephesians 5:22-23, husbands are to lead in love in their marriages.

This article evaluates grumbling and complaining through the lens of Philippians 2:14.

This article seeks to foster a Christian understanding of Islam. It starts with providing a broader framework of God's redemptive intentions for humanity, including Muslims. It explains the need to be accurate in our descriptions and interpretations of Muslim beliefs and practices. Overcoming this challenge is achieved in developing relationships with Muslims so as to understand them and their faith, and in immersing ourselves in their history and sources.

This article explains that preaching ought be recognized less as sophisticated and more as cross-centred, after the example and teaching of Christ and his apostles.

This article reflects on Paul's words about love in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.

This article surveys the Old Testament to show how it it is Christ-centred.

This article explains that parenting, particularly fathering, shows something of what it means to know God. It explains, with Matthew 7:7-11, why parents need the gospel, and goes on to provide four priorities for gospel-centred parenting.

This article gives further thought to how pastors can strike the balance between family and ministry. It gives thought to unique situations in one's family life, seasons of life, and accountability to know how the pastor is doing in this area of balancing.

How should a pastor balance his time between his family and ministry? This article considers what the Bible prioritizes, and encourages pastors to reckon with how much ministry they can handle.

What should be the priorities of a pastor? This article answers by considering the role of shepherds. It discusses how the kings of Israel often failed to serve as shepherds, but how the Lord Jesus was the perfect shepherd of his sheep. The article issues a call to imitate the Chief Shepherd.

This article explains how cohabitation before marriage weakens the latter, for a temporary commitment always weakens a permanent commitment. Marriage, rightly understood, is all about permanence.

This article prompts pastors to consider their motivations behind refuting error in the church.

This article discusses some principles on how to interpret the Bible. It calls for being aware of historical or cultural background matters, attentiveness to context, and reading the Bible with other believers.

How can a Christian serve the Lord in his summer vacation? This article offers several practical ways: attend corporate worship, honour the Lord with your finances, spend extra time on things of eternal significance, and enjoy the Lord's goodness to you.

This article outlines some principles for interpreting Scripture. It discusses the guideline of Scripture interpreting Scripture, and then encourages meditation on the Bible, as the way of obedience. It also encourages awareness of the genre of the Bible book you are reading.

This article discusses the relationship between faith and the areas of economics and human flourishing. It first shows how a biblical perspective affects how we view the dramatic changes in global population and wealth. Then it evaluates corporate profits through a biblical lens. It addresses the question of how the cultural mandate applies to believers in a new economic environment. Finally, it considers three points of application.

This article provides direction on how to read and interpret the Bible faithfully. It explains that the first steps involve prayer, and reading the Bible as a book that points toward Christ.

This article offers a series of ten biblical steps that will lead the believer in the way of sanctification.

What does the gospel have to say about how Christians are to think about the environment? This article offers four thoughts that are related to the Bible's story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation.

This article explains what expository preaching and faithful preachers look like.

This article offers three thoughts on why ministers should carefully speak up on public issues: the church body needs wisdom on how to live in society well, the secular culture needs to hear from the true culture, and believers have historically been agents for change because of strong pulpits.

This article outlines some of the cultural and philosophical challenges that ministers of the gospel can expect in time to come. It shows that the current generation is highly selective about the kinds of truths it is willing to receive. The church needs to be very clear on the story of the Bible, from creation to new creation, as well as its instruction on sexuality, and the exclusivity of the gospel.

Are evangelism and public justice contradictory concerns? This article shows that the mission of the church is the mission of Christ; we are to be concerned about the things and people that concern him.

What is at the heart of a pastor's calling? As a theologian, he does not teach simply what the church has historically believed, but he teaches out of his personal theological convictions. This article explains that a pastor's personal confession is intertwined with his own theology.

This article discusses how having a biblical worldview impacts how we treat and train our children. Scripture reveals that they are gifts from God and yet sinners in need of redemption. The training they are to receive includes both formal and informal components.

This article emphasizes the responsibility of the pastor to teach and preach, and to be clear, specific, systematic, and comprehensive in doing so.

This article discusses the need for the pastor to help the congregation think theologically in order to grow in discernment and discipleship. He himself has to learn to discern the different levels of theological importance of doctrines, in order to give the congregation a sense of priority and discernment in this area.

This article considers the scenario where someone who has had a gender reassignment surgery wants to repent from their past and turn to the Lord. How do you help them down the road of repentance?

This article explains how the pastor's calling is theological. The author shows from the New Testament, particularly Paul's letters to Timothy, that the reading, teaching, preaching, and study of Scripture are all inherently theological.

This article explains that holiness is not a temperament, nor forced seriousness. One can be funny or dull, quiet or loud, and still be holy.

This article laments the transformation of theology into an academic discipline more associated with the university than the church. The author speaks of the need for the pastor in the local church to function as a theologian.

This article stresses the value of parents being the primary disciple-makers of their children, rather than handing over this responsibility to professionals.

What happens if we are not anticipating the return of Christ? This article explains what we can expect, and how Scripture warns against this apathy.

What did Paul mean when he said he was all things to all people? This article considers the challenge of the Christian witness today, in the face of unprecedented moral revolution. We are to bear witness to the gospel of Christ by holding on to all that the Bible instructs us to, and letting go of all that would undermine the truth of God's Word.

This article shows how thankfulness to God is an antidote to sinning.

This article explains that preaching needs to be Word-centred, rather than focused on the preacher. It provides three considerations for building a Word-centred church.

This article explains why there is confusion in society today about gender and sexuality: society has forgotten what it means to be created in the image of God. The article goes on to provide the biblical worldview on gender.

This article stresses that the heart of true biblical worship is the preaching of God's Word. It issues a call for faithful expository preaching, and lists three characteristics of such preaching.

This article surveys the progression of the digital age, and ends by stressing the importance of believers making use of the digital revolution to communicate the gospel.

What is the best way to engage with our digital devices? This article offers five principles to help chart a healthy form of handling technology: define priorities, set rules, invite accountability, accept limitations, and promote the gospel.

This article stresses the importance of preaching Christ from the Gospels. This approach recognizes the Old Testament roots of the teachings found in the Gospels.

This article considers the beauty, power, and wonder that the four Gospels give to the church.

This article provides some encouragements for church leaders and members to help cultivate an evangelistic culture in the local church, with a view to compelling believers to engage with the unbelieving world.

This article discusses the theological motivations for evangelism. In particular, it shows the relationship between evangelism and the love of God, the spiritual state of those being evangelized, Scripture, and the return of the Lord.

This article discusses the vital importance of expository preaching in the church, over against topical preaching. It discusses the central role of the Word of God in bringing life, faith, and sanctification. It also explains the role of the preacher of the Word.