Adam L. Feldman's Blog, page 15

Listen Up: Friendship

I had breakfast with a good friend this morning. We sat across from each other at a brilliant blue collar cafe in the town where I live. Its the kind of place where our coffee mugs didn’t match each other, and the locals kindly smiled at you when you walked in. At one point, the daughter of the waitress working the floor came in and everyone erupted in a heart felt: “Happy Birthday!” Its a hometown, scrapple serving, Baltimore diner at its finest.

Our omelets finished, my buddy sat back in the...

The Bread and the Cup

My memory of the moment is a bit cloudy—kind of like a photograph faded around the edges. But, I can still recall the first time that I was aware of the “Lord’s Supper”—how we typically refer to “Eucharist” or “communion” in my particular stream of Christianity.

Based on where my family lived at the time, I can place my age somewhere around 4 or 5 years old. I was sitting in a pew in a sanctuary. A silver plate with pieces of bread that looked like tiny pillows was passed from my left to my ri...

Listen Up: Worship

When it comes to hearing God in worship, I am referring to the corporate worship gathering, or “worship service.” It is important that we come to the worship gathering ready and prepared for God to speak to us and also to respond to Him in obedience.

I have chosen to focus this post on hearing God in worship through music, giving, and preaching because these tend to be the three biggest aspects of Evangelical worship services. If space permitted, I would also explore hearing God through the li...

The Shepherd in the Shadow

It has been a rough four weeks. The shadow of death is all around.

During this time, I have conducted two funerals—one for a family member who succumbed to her battle against cancer and another for a young man in our church community who took his own life. Also during this time, another church member’s mother unexpectedly passed away, and some of my friends soberly observed the anniversaries of loved onesthat have passed. I wish I could have a do-over for the past several weeks.

Our church is c...

Listen Up: Prayer

What does “prayer” look like? What does “prayer” sound like? How do you know when you have “prayed?”

The best way to learn what God’s voice sounds like is to enter into dialogue with Him, and prayer is that dialogue.

Why pray?

There are a whole host of reasons for why we pray. We pray to get answers, to have our needs met, to understand God’s will, and to intercede for others. We also pray to praise God and worship Him.

I want to challenge you with this simple idea: prayer is conversation. If God...

How to Take Sermon Notes

I was taught in seminary that I should put 1 hour of sermon preparation in for each minute in a sermon that I plan to preach. I usually preach for about 30 minutes, so that would mean roughly 30 hours of sermon preparation. Now, I rarely if ever put in that amount of time into a sermon (I have plenty of other things to do), but as the primary preaching pastor at our church, I do spend a lot of time preparing sermons.

Here is an idea of the amount of time that I put into preparing a sermon…

Half...

Listen Up: The Voice of God

A friend of mine recently asked me to write a series about “listening.” I told him I would consider it since the subject is interesting to me. After all, listening is a close cousin of reflection, the main spiritual exercise behind my book, Journaling.

Well, Ryan, here is your series on listening, bro.(Do you have an idea for a blog post or series? Contact me and let me know!)

The voice of God

As a pastor, I have been asked numerous times, “What does God’s voice sound like?” The question has not...

10 Commandments for Doubting Christians

I wrestled with doubt for over two decades. If you are skimming, let me write that again because I do not want you to miss the weight of what I just wrote: I wrestled with doubt for over two decades. My specific doubt centered around a lack of assurance of salvation.

I fought hard for assurance of salvation: praying (begging) to God to give me lasting assurance, talking with close spiritual friends about my struggles, and reading virtually everything I could about doubt. Then, in nothing short...

Eating and Drinking Ain’t Enough

Spend enough time around USAmerican Evangelicals, and you’ll probably begin hearing phrases like: “Preach the Gospel at all times, use words when necessary;” “Love the sinner, hate the sin;” and “Lifestyle/relational evangelism.”

I am sure that these phrases carried significant meaning when they first appeared on the scene however long ago. However, sometimes these phrases are simply fancy, spiritually sounding excuses for being lazy about actually sharing the Gospel in word. They are often cu...

Ora et Labora (Prayer and Work)

Once or twice a year, I steal away for a 2 night soul rest. I have been going on these personal retreats since my early 20’s when I was single. As my seasons of life changed—from single to married, from married to parenting—it has become increasingly tricky to take these retreats. Now I must coordinate calendars to accommodate my family and pastoral duties.

Plus, a soul rest for me requires that my wife, Kim, parent our two children solo. It is a loving sacrifice on her part to serve me by pro...