neal Originally sent to distribution list on 11.04.24. Posting here for convenience. — Greetings, friends! Thank you for your interest in our church planting journey. For those of you who have recently signed up for this newsletter, we welcome you to our community! I’m writing to you from Greensboro, NC where our family is attending the … Read more
Decision, decisions. Of all the decisions that come with planting a church, one of the first decisions a church planter must make is to name the church. Depending on the network, core team, or sending church, the choice could come sooner than later. In my case with SendNC (Send Network cooperation with NC Baptists), choosing … Read more
Originally sent to the distribution list on 09.04.24. Posting here for reference purposes. — Hey, friends! Thanks for subscribing to the Coram Deo newsletter. Each month I’ll be sending at least one update to detail our church planting progress with a few next steps for your involvement. This newsletter will be our main mode of … Read more
Last year I began preaching through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. It’s been a true delight to see the early formation of God’s people, indwelled and accompanied by the Holy Spirit as Jesus so promised (John 16:7; Luke 24:49). From pneumatology to ecclesiology, lessons surely abound from the introductory scenes chronicled by Doctor … Read more
That’s a loaded question! I write this post at a strategic time as the office of deacon is on our minds. Each August our church selects new deacon candidates for the next calendar year. As a point of perennial tradition, I try to help our church think about polity — particularly, deacons—at this time of … Read more
As a Christian first and a local church pastor second, I am continually reminded that Christians are in the “people business.” To be a follower of Christ means to be in the church and serving in ministry at some level (Ephesians 4:10-11). That means you deal with—people. I have often defined ministry as, “filling gaps … Read more
And the waters continued to abate until the tenth month; in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains were seen. Genesis 8:5 The study of Noah’s life is an extraordinary venture. He was a man who saw the world destroyed, survived a global flood, who populated a … Read more
A family member of mine recently passed away. His passing was peaceful and expected, with many loved ones by his side. But as the arrangements were made and the funeral graveside services were held, thoughts began to stir within me anew about a topic on which I’ve been eager to write: the care of the … Read more
To be a Christian is to be a born-again follower of Jesus Christ. To be a Christian is to obey all of Jesus’ commands, which includes his instruction to “Go, and make disciples of all nations.” (Matt. 28:19) To be a Christian, therefore, is to live a life on mission here and near, yet posture … Read more
John the Baptist has been considered the last of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus considered him to be the fulfillment of Malachi 4:5-6, the promised “Elijah,” who would “turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.” (cf. Matt. 11:13-14; 17:10-13; Luke 1:17) Surely marking the end of … Read more