Blog Archives

When You Need Healing
It’s no doubt this world occupies a space of suffering more than any other location in our universe. Earth is […]

A Solitary Firefighter
Every summer, I enjoy my precious bit of free time by reading a few books merely for enjoyment or my […]

Our 3 Excuses for Not Reading the Bible
I make excuses for not reading the Bible every day. And this is coming from a pastor. A formally-trained-in-biblical-theology pastor. […]

High School: How to Survive and Thrive
Seriously, high school is tough. If it’s not the AP classes and the pressure for more college credits, it’s the […]

Whose Truth is True?
Truth. It’s a subject that has evolved and changed. A topic that has been stretched, questioned and misused over time. Where […]

Tending the Gardens of Our Lives
It’s too nice of a day to stay indoors! The flowers that the kids and I planted are doing GREAT, […]

Six Ways to Prepare for Worship
Last Sunday was an incredible day of worship at our church! The music, fellowship, serving, and community that took place […]

Staying Christian in College: 7 Questions Parents Should Ask
You’ve detected trends that are leading kids away from Christianity in college. How do we fight back? In most cases, what it comes […]

Technology in Ministry: Social Media
by Jake Tyson My grandfather once told me, “What is not used for God’s glory will be used by Satan for destruction.” […]

Comparison-itis and Christ
by Joyce Parker When I get in a room of other women that I don’t know very well, I’m not immediately uncomfortable. […]

Go Ahead: Burst Your Bubble
By Larry Barker, Director of North American Church Planting Our family was living in Romania in 2000 and we had […]


Ten Ways to Survive & Thrive in College
by Yalanda Merrell Thinking back to my college years, I’m reminded of . . . long nights staying up late […]

Hungry & You Fed Me
by Larry Barker, Director of North American Church Planting Lately, whenever I go into a gas station someone is always […]

Three Reasons Your Prayers Should Always Include Praise
My wife and I are old school. We try really hard to teach our three daughters their manners. We believe […]


Who is Jesus?
Jesus offered his life as a sacrifice for sin . . . the innocent paying the price of the guilty.

Reflecting Christ in Marriage
If you have a good marriage, and if your parents modeled a good marriage for you, BE THANKFUL!! It occurred […]

Greatest Wedding Story Ever Told
We should be making ourselves ready to be found without spot or blemish for our perfect groom, Jesus Christ.

Lifeword: What I Learned as an Intern
by Melody Siebenmann I have almost completed 120 hours of internship work for Lifeword. And I must say it has […]

Technology in Ministry
When I was younger, I remember my dad, who was a pastor, coming home from a preacher’s meeting. He and […]

Ministry: Keeping It Real
It’s possible to be highly-trained and highly-regarded in your leadership role and be absolutely crumbling on the inside.

No Matter What You’ve Done or Where You’ve Been
Spring Hunter is a woman who grew up in complete poverty, religiously adhered to a cult, suffered parental abandonment, became […]

God of the Mountains and Valleys
“For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the […]

Surrendered: Fully and Finally
I started drinking when I was fifteen because my parents were gone every weekend and my brother and sister would […]

Sharing Your Faith
Fear of rejection is the number one reason for neglecting to bring up spiritual topics in conversations.

Three Reasons to Have Patience
1 – Because love is patient “Love is patient,” (1 Corinthians 13:4). Anyone else think “ouch” Yeah, my hand would […]

My Spiritual Journey
A SEASON OF GROWTH Time moves quickly from us, never returning. It’s our most valuable, non-replenishable asset. We can make […]

From Your Big Sister
Dear baby, This is Melody, writing to you the night before you are born into this world. There are a […]

But It’s Not My Fault
It’s obvious to me in the last sixty years there’s been a dramatic decline in the acceptance of personal responsibility […]

Mike Jones: A Lifeword Story of Grace and Mercy
Matthew chapter 17 has the account of Jesus with Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. While they […]

Part Two: Free From Pornography For Good
Pornography is a deadly mistress. She stands poised with promises, willing and ready at a moment’s notice. She strikes unexpectedly, […]

Discipleship Part Two: Three Chairs
SOAR . . . Man, I love this youth conference. Sold Out And Radical. Every summer, we gather up our […]

Part One: The Prominence of Pornography
Pornography addiction is most assuredly an androgynous affair, but for men in particular, the stimulus from pornography activates parts of […]

Discipleship Part One: How Did Jesus Do It?
It wasn’t until after my first year of college that I was truly saved. You’re probably thinking, what does that […]

What it Means to Have a Christian Attitude
The following is adapted from a sermon by Jeff Swart. Philippians 4:8 may be the most important verse in the […]

Static? Move Closer to the Tower
I hate static. Not like the kind that makes your clothes cling to you. I’m talking about static on the […]

How to Control Your FOMO Once and for All
FOMO (the “fear of missing out”) is a real thing, and it’s more intense than ever. We’re afraid we’ll miss […]

Four Practical Lessons from Job’s Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day
Have you ever had a day that goes something like this: You are trying to leave for work and the […]

Your Marriage May Be Falling Apart
t I remember very clearly the day God showed me an important truth about my relationship with him. I’m either actively […]

How to be Content in Three Acts (#3 of 3)
ACT III: The Consequences of Covetousness (Numbers 11:31—35) Let’s return to the children of Israel in the wilderness: Numbers 11:31: “Now […]

How to be Content in Three Acts (#2 of 3)
Act II: A Gift From God You Don’t Want (Numbers 11:4-20) In Act I we defined covetousness in four parts. Covetousness […]

How to be Content in Three Acts (#1 of 3)
First Timothy 6:6-10 says, ”But godliness with contentment is great gain.For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing […]

From Worrier to Warrior
My imagination ran wild…What if my friends or the kids got too close to the edge? What would happen then? And how far down was it?

Tips From the Must Have Parenting Handbook
Dr. Spock. Neuropsychology. Behavior modification. Brain science. Energy profiling (huh??). With the plethora of books, blogs, and methods on parenting […]

Complicated Yet So Simple
CGenesis 1:1 says that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. We often read the familiarity of […]

Static In Our Lives
I hate static. Not like the kind that makes your clothes cling to you. I’m talking about static on the […]

The Real Truth About Real Men
There are countless voices in our culture ringing through the air with definitions of what men should be like in […]

UPDATE: Blessings and Difficulties of Ministry
(Click here to read the original article published on May 31, 2019.) On the sixth day of the strikes by […]

He’s Already There
Searching… My email is like the pit of despair. I keep everything, you know, just in case. Like all the […]