Christian Convictions Sermon Tools
Would you like your church to know more about the essentials of the faith? How to know the difference between what’s an important element of our faith and what’s just a matter of personal preference? To help churches engage with…
Renew.org
Starting a Discipleship Group: A Leader’s Guide for Using The Real Life Theology Books
The point of good theology isn’t to help smart people get smarter. The point is to fuel disciple making. If you have picked up one of our 12 core Real Life Theology books, you will personally grow from the content.…
Bobby Harrington
Sermon on the Mount: Manipulator Defined
“But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all…” (Matt. 5:34) In the second half of Matthew 5, Jesus repeatedly says, “You have heard it said . . .” (Matt. 5:21-48). He never actually says that he’s quoting Scripture. He’s quoting popular proverbs that have been floating around since the time of “the...
Jeremy Bacon
How to Pray When You Don’t Know How You Feel
“How are you feeling?” If you’re like me, you might be tempted to give a short, one-word answer to that question. When I get home from work, my wife will often ask me how I’m doing. If the day went well, I’d say things like good, great, or fine. If the day didn’t go well, I...
Joshua Branham
The Gospel Precisely Sermon Tools
Would you like your church to know more about what the gospel is? Why we need it and how it benefits all creation? How to share the gospel? To help churches engage with Matthew Bates’s The Gospel Precisely: Surprisingly Good…
Renew.org
7 Preaching Trends Needed in 2022 More Than Ever
Events since 2020 have disrupted a lot of churches and exposed weaknesses. A lot of church leaders were left confused and discouraged. In light of these changes, here are seven preaching trends we recommend moving forward. 1. Unity around mission is a must. Each day, a new issue divides the world we live in: politics,...
Matt Stieger
The TikTok Challenge and a New Authority Over Gen Zers
I’ve changed my mind. At first, I was annoyed with a video title I saw about a viral TikTok challenge, but I’ve come around to agreeing with the title. Trevor Noah, host of The Daily Show, the longest running program on Comedy Central, called the segment “This New TikTok Challenge Is Making Kids Vandalize Schools.”...
Daniel McCoy
The Barbell Strategy and the Church in the New Covid World
In the financial world, there is a concept known as the barbell strategy. The strategy consists of putting 90% of your money in low-risk investments—something like mutual funds or maybe investing in silver. Then you take the other 10% of your money and invest in something very risky—something like cryptocurrency. What you don’t want to...
Christopher Barras
Storytelling: How to Create Good Characters
Continuing her series on storytelling and the Bible, author Taffeta Chime explores how to create good characters. Other articles in this series include “Why Storytelling Is Important to the Life of a Christian,” “What Are the Conflicts in a Story?,” “What Metaphor Means,” “Tips on Writing Stories in Layers,” and “How to Share Stories for a...
Taffeta Chime
Faithful Faith Sermon Tools
Would you like your church to know more about biblical faith—as opposed to the watered down faith of many forms of Christianity? What is faith? Why is faith the right response to God’s grace? What is faith without works? To…
Renew.org
You Are Unique!
A deck of cards that is shuffled correctly is an example of something profoundly unique. The number of possible orders for a deck of cards is a 68-digit number. That’s an incredibly large number of possible orders! I can comprehend seven-digit numbers and ten-digit numbers, but 68 digits? How large is that number? There are...
Stephen Brownlow
When the Burden Feels too Heavy: Maintaining Spiritual Health and Emotional Empathy amidst the Challenges of Full-Time Ministry
Yesterday was one of those days. If you’re in full-time ministry, you know what I’m talking about. The kind of day where my phone seemed to go off incessantly, alerting me to just one more need, crisis, challenge, or painful situation someone in my congregation under my care was facing. There was the brother who...
Josh Brooker
Book Review and Reflections on Embodied, by Preston Sprinkle
I have been praying about this review/thought piece for some time. In the United States, the Equality Act has long been working its way through the government. This act has erupted in debate on both sides of the aisle. It is the cause of arguments about women’s sports, bathrooms, how to treat young children, and...
William Butt
New Birth Sermon Tools
Would you like your church to know more about what the new birth is and how to be born again? Why we need the new birth? The point of baptism? To help churches engage with Michael Strickland and Anessa Westbrook’s…
Renew.org
It’s Time to Leave the Starship Enterprise for the Blue Origin.
What do you think of blunt Christian billboards? It’s easy to get annoyed at stoplights because they rigidly alternate between only three options (stop, go, and slow). Imagine how most people feel toward the billboards that bring it down to only two options and say curtly, “It’s your choice…heaven or hell.” Spiritually speaking, most people...
Daniel McCoy