Honest Questions

Unqualified Jesus

When I visited Honduras in 2017, I had an M.Div. degree, years of ministry experience, and a position with a global nonp...

Reflect: The Long Walk Home

Angered By Grace

In the spring of 2009, a student I discipled, whom I'll call Rob, went on a missions trip to Honduras. Unfortunately, on...

Jesus First

"The bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write abo...

Three Friends At Dawn

"It's a shooting star!" "What, where?" (Obviously, they were far above our heads). I scrambled to find the tent's zipper...

Daring Thomas

When one of my friends died, his wife prayed for three days that God would raise him from the dead. She reasoned that Je...

Nowhere Else To Go

I showed up at the building to collect my items and say goodbye, but a security guard met me outside the front door with...

God Bless America

In discussing his politics, Terry Drew told the reporter Stephanie McCrummen, "I hate it," he said. "My wife and I talk...

You're Not a Christian

Who am I to question someone’s faith? It’s the kind of accusation that abusive leaders use to destabilize and control. E...

Reflect: The Answer You Didn't Want

The Invisible Jesus

When a large foundation announced they planned to spend a billion dollars on advertisements about Jesus, I felt conflict...

Don't Miss What God Is Doing

When I was dating, I thought God would deliver for me the way he had for my friends. I just needed to pray, ask her out,...

A Strange Glory

I grew up with the idea that I needed to believe in Jesus to go to heaven. Even in seminary, three semesters of syste...

The Word is With Us

My Mom said the rocks would be amazing. I believed her, but sitting in the car for hours made me wish I was back home. S...

The King Who Ran Away

"Thank you Heavenly Father...to allow us to send a message to all the tyrants, the communists, and the globalists that t...

The Life We Are Dying to Kill

I once got incredibly angry at one of my roommates because he wrote a blog with what I considered bad theology. I felt I...

You Didn't Have To Be There

In 203 AD, a 22-year-old mother sat in a suffocating Roman dungeon, separated from her infant son. When her father begge...

The Long Walk Home

When I lived in Boston, I spent a year living in Dorchester, in a neighborhood where it wasn't safe to be outside after...

The World He Loved

We love John 3:16 because it feels safe. It's an inspirational thought printed on bumper stickers and In-N-Out cups. But...

Going to Jesus

We were sitting at Flour in Boston because I couldn't resist their croissants. As I caught up with an old friend, I a...

Not A Bumper Sticker

I was talking with a friend who told me he keeps praying, "God, what do you want me to do with my life?" He said, "I'm s...

When the Bible Becomes a Battleground

I spent years arguing about whether God chose me or I chose God. Scholars on both sides warned me that the other positio...

Safe To Die

"If you want to be a real man, you need to have money in your pocket." My friend's dad gave him pot to sell at William L...

Not Me

From the Auschwitz death camp, the Franciscan priest Maximilian Kolbe wrote to his mother, "Do not worry about me or my...

They Tried to Kill God

"You're lying. I don't trust you." My co-worker's accusation felt worse than getting punched in the face. I knew I wa...

God's Grace Is Enough

I remember staring at my phone, willing myself to pick it up, but my arm felt like lead. I needed to raise support to ke...

Labor and Delivery

I crumpled into a corner of the hospital hallway. The harsh fluorescent lights illuminated the terror of birth. My wife...

When the Room Makes Truth Unthinkable

I was on a global Skype call with RZIM's senior leaders and Ravi Zacharias himself—the famous apologist whose ministry w...

Weekend Reflection

Convenient Amnesia

A best-selling apologist called me to talk about Ravi. He agreed that Ravi was a liar, a bully, and a predator. Then he...

True Friends Might Wound Us

When I was fifteen, my grandfather asked if he could talk with me for a moment. I could tell from the tone of his voice...

The Unlikely Disciple

The discolored, funky-smelling jerseys made middle school P.E. bad enough. But the worst part was when teams were picked...