Spiritual Growth

Obeying My Friend

I want to evaluate God's ideas and follow the ones that make sense. If his suggestions are difficult, costly, or even in...

What Goes Down Must Come Up

“One of the girls in our small group came to me after maybe a year or so of listening to people and she was like, ‘I fee...

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

I Had To Tell You

I had just asked him to tell me the story of his commitment to Jesus. He answered by telling me about a long chain of di...

Take Each Other's Side

In March 2021, Emily Hyland went to the elders of her church because she believed her pastor and boss was treating her u...

Vomit Faith

In the autumn of 1784, a twenty-five-year-old Member of Parliament jolted across the stone-paved roads of Europe, bounci...

When the Wine Runs Out

Sitting at Au Bon Pain in Harvard Square, I had to lead another Bible study. But I'd already studied the Bible with five...

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...

Sewage Smells

Every conversation at a national ministry conference in Washington, D.C. felt like it followed an unwritten script. "Hi,...

A Rigged Game

Elisabeth Scott Stam, February 22, 1906 / "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain." Philippians 1:21. It's a short...

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...

Quintuple Honor

A new church initiative led a friend to quit his job, sell his belongings, and move overseas for missionary service. But...

Overlooked

The job posting for a senior pastor required "transformational leadership," "top-notch" Bible teaching, and meeting "sta...

Reading Alone

I ran my hand across the leather cover of my study Bible and thought, "I have no idea what I just read." If reading an e...

The Scoreboard

I researched how to make a web app go viral. One website recommended adding streaks with competitions, gamification, and...

Jesus' Guts

In a training video for pastors, the megachurch leader Josh Howerton advises them to set aside time to answer the questi...

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...

Casting Spells

I sat in my seat, head bowed, hands open, but I couldn't focus on God. Prayer warriors were circling the room, wearing I...

Not the Peace I Wanted

Christianity Today once reported that at a major missions conference, 8,000 people signed commitment cards indicating a...

Unpaid Labor

In 2012, Steven Furtick's book *Greater* debuted at an impressive #4 on the *New York Times* Advice Best Sellers List. B...

The Wobbly Table

Fifteen years ago, a freshman and I met every week at a hip coffee shop in Boston for a Bible study. We sat at a tiny ro...

Your Spiritual Plus One

A group at church asked me to speak to them about how to stay connected to their kids who had walked away from Jesus. As...

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...

Do You Want To Look At Jesus?

When I arrived for a weekend retreat with thirty up-and-coming leaders, the jockeying for position started immediately....

The Donkey Test

As I scrolled through social media, a government agency posted a video of soldiers in combat gear while Psalm 18:37 scro...

Kneeling

"I'm your pastor. Tell me." I looked down at my burger, then out the window of Huey's, looking down Madison Avenue in...

The Wrong Parade

As I walked through Kelly Ingram Park in Birmingham, I looked up and saw The Foot Soldier. Ronald McDowell's statue show...

I Just Couldn't See It

"For five months I've perceived you as being arrogant to me. So I've been praying for you every day and trying to start...

Scrolling Past God

"Sometimes I'll just be sitting in the prayer room, scrolling on my phone, waiting for my shift to end." I appreciate...

The Gift of Arrest

I showed up for RZIM's beloved Christmas party. We played fun games, received our Christmas bonuses, and heard that we w...

Follow Me

After I finished my D.Min. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I had to reckon with what my Major Project had conclu...

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...

Making A Profit

My wife and I once made a small gift to a cause we cared about. It's been a few years, and we're still getting automated...

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...

Screen Door

“You want to be like a cat on a screen door.” I looked blankly at my mentor. I tried to imagine a cat hanging for its...

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...

Rags

At the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, I walked up to a lunch counter and put on headphones. Imme...

Victory

I gasped for air and charged around a curve on a dirt path deep in the woods. To my shock, my cross-country coach was th...

Where Are You Looking?

"Why were your headquarters so nice?" asked my friend. I was puzzled. "What do you mean?" I thought to myself. "The mini...

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...

Reflect: Come and See

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...

Stinky Feet

In seminary, I took a preaching class that required us to give mini-sermons in front of our peers. I agonized over every...

An Unforgettable Dinner

"I gave my car to the church." I didn't know what to make of it. She was a college student burdened by student loans. Sh...

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...

Broken Tablets

I looked out at everyone singing and praising God. For me, silence felt more honest. After yelling at my family on the w...

The End of the VIP Room

One of the perks of working at RZIM was access to the Green Room. When we hosted packed events at our headquarters, it f...

You're A Prophet Now

A former friend said there was "nothing Christian" about my "evil" actions, so he'd asked our former employer to cancel...

Out of Line

Christianity Today tells the story of a pastor who drives two members of his church to work every day. They're legal imm...

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...

Reflect: Plans for Jesus

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...

Better Without Jesus

It was a dream trip: to walk where Jesus walked in the Holy Land. When our tour group arrived at the Jordan River, a few...

Labor and Delivery

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

A Way Out of No Way

Growing up, I sometimes felt jittery when dinner ran late, or I had more homework to do. I wanted to turn on the TV and...

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...

Prayers That Bounce

At Thanksgiving, we gathered in the kitchen, joined hands, bowed our heads, and prayed. But I wondered, "What's the poin...

And

In the fall of 2003, I was sitting in a chair outside Emory's dining hall by myself. But suddenly, I felt surrounded by...

Weekend Reflection

Look!

When I was in middle school, another student loved to torment me with cruel nicknames. The one that hurt the most? "Tubb...

The Last Fishing Trip

In February 1941, during the German bombing of London in World War II, James Welch of the British Broadcasting Corporati...

The Empty Seat

In seminary, I spent fifteen minutes a day memorizing Scripture. It seemed like the kind of thing a future pastor should...

When Outsiders Get It First

"I just called everyone on my phone and told them about Jesus." I was stunned. I didn't even know she was a Christian...

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...

Disgraced

After enduring spiritual abuse as an employee at RZIM, I could only trust a very small handful of people. I no longer kn...

Mary

I was driving down a forgettable road in South Hamilton, MA. My creaky Ford Explorer screeched to a halt at a four-way s...

Stars

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis, the Narnians arrive at an island at the edge of the world, where they m...

Moving In

I sat on the couch in the corner of the living room, trying to look normal while building a spreadsheet to figure out ho...

Written

In Barracks 28 of the Ravensbrück concentration camp, Betsie ten Boom coughed on a bed stuffed with fleas and lice. Corr...

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...

I Didn't Feel Anything

I watched the worship band slowly develop the intensity of the opening song. With each repetition, they layered in drums...

The Same Fire

I drive by the old RZIM headquarters at least once a week. Every time, I reactively grip my steering wheel tighter, look...

The Exhaustion of Self-Creation

When Facebook first arrived at my college, I remember the rush to set up a profile so everyone could know who I was, wha...

Despised

A church consulting group produced a report on how to engineer church growth. They recommend using data analytics to und...

Imitate Me

Chuck Johnston, my high school Bible study leader, taught me the book of James. I don't remember anything he said. But...

You Already Have It

When I was a kid, my mom had a tradition in which we would go to the store with her and "help Santa out" by suggesting w...

The Broken Alphabet

After I started Uncommon Pursuit, I took a marketing course that recommended I create a 'brand promise.' I needed to tel...

No Crowds

When I lived in Cambridge, I found the indifference to religion to be a tough barrier. So I asked my pastor how he share...

Imitating Christ Together

At the summer conference, the food was passable, and the bunk beds were hard. But whether the staff were stacking chairs...

A Beautiful Waste

When I graduated from Rhodes College, all of my friends were getting traditional jobs that came with salaries, benefits,...

When Prayer Feels Like a Performance

My friend and I met up in Bellingrath Chapel at Rhodes College, where we'd agreed to pray together for an hour. The sile...

The Saints

As the House of Lords fiercely debated whether or not it was appropriate to investigate British slavery in the Caribbean...

He's Beneath Us

A Twitter friend won an award. I thought about posting "Congratulations!" but I was too jealous to celebrate. I thoug...

Reflect: Look at Jesus

Already

In high school, my Bible study leader did a verse-by-verse study on Ephesians. By the end of it, I was convinced that pr...

Undivided

Toward the end of his life, the missionary John Paton recalled how his father, James Paton, saw him off to college. His...

The Unlikely Disciple

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

Horse Backwash

When I served as a campus minister at Harvard, I sometimes wondered if I belonged there. Everyone seemed to have themsel...