By Brian Croft
How does a fast work? The simplest way to explain it is to say that the moments we inevitably feel unfulfilled hunger pains of food should instead move us to pray. We translate our natural hunger for food, which is necessary for life, into prayer. Our physical yearnings are transferred into spiritual hunger for God, for the life we have in him, and for him to do what only he can do.
Read MoreIt is a common scenario. You move to a new area. You get settled at your new residence and job. You get the kids settled in school. Where you settle in a local church often times becomes a longer, more drawn out task. After checking out all the churches you desire to visit, here are 4 questions to ask yourself as you narrow the search to make a decision.
Read MoreSome pastors go way over the top, while others do nothing trying to make a statement about how church is not a place to celebrate your country, but worship God. Regardless where you find yourself on this spectrum, most churches have men and women who have served in the military who are present on Sunday. How does a pastor encourage these members in his church?
Read MoreIt is safe to say the Reformers never had to tackle this question. However, it is certainly one we face now and has important implications to the fruitfulness of a pastor’s ministry today. As this question has forced its way on the scene as a result of our growing technological advances, so have strong opinions on this matter. Many of these opinions are nothing more than preferences.
Read MoreIn light of the tendency to oversimplify, or bog down your young engaged couple with too much to do in pre-marital counseling, here , Brian Croft writes of are 3 areas he finds helpful and thorough, whether you have a few weeks or as “many weeks as needed” before the big day.
Read MoreChurch splits are very unfortunate and painful experiences anytime they happen, but what made this split that much more tragic was the reason for the split. What do you do if you feel the Lord calling you to unite those two churches to become one? Should this be done? Brian Croft writes his thoughts on this topic.
Read MoreIn the last post, I discussed how a pastor can be certain he is regularly shepherding everyone in his church. In it I explained a system to pray and contact every member of the church in one month. This is based on the shepherding efforts of a smaller church, so naturally I can anticipate the question, “That’s great, but what about those who pastor at a larger church?” This post is for you.
Read MoreThough we are shepherds who will give an account for each soul in our care (Heb. 13:17), we all still have this tendency to gravitate to those we either love to be with the most or who make the most racket, thus demanding our attention. Because of this, there are church members who unintentionally slip through the cracks. In seeing this in the early years of my ministry, I came up with this system that has become a very effective way to care for our folks and to cut down on unnecessary and unintentional neglect.
Read MoreIn light of this seven year anniversary, it has been helpful to revisit several of these posts I wrote to honor Jackson and in doing so, honor the Savior he so faithfully served while here. I re-read them with the hopes to strive to be as faithful as he was. I have been freshly reminded of the sovereign God Jackson preached so tirelessly that continues to give me hope as I still feel this loss.
Read MoreWhat made this particular funeral the most difficult I have ever done? As the funeral approached, nothing I tried lifted the burden. No matter how much I prayed or meditated on Scripture, the weight remained and it was an intensity I cannot recall ever feeling. As I reflected afterwards, here are 5 factors that seemed to create this “perfect storm” of struggle that peaked at an unbearable level just a few minutes before the funeral began.
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