Notable Voices and the Week in Review: May 4, 2019

Reaching the Nominally Churched – Rai... Pray for Ridgeview Baptist Church

Notable Voices and the Week in Review: May 4, 2019

From Around the Web:

5 Signs Your Church Has an Unhealthy Preaching Culture — Thomas Hwang

How do you know if your church is developing unhealthy preaching culture? Sure, there are obvious signs such as people falling asleep, playing games, or roaming the hallways during the sermon. But I think at that point, your church is just spiritually dead. There are subtle warning signs that I think churches should spot as signs of unhealthiness. What are those signs? Here are five.

11 Suggestions for Your Summer Reading List — Facts & Trends

Sunshine, free time, and a good book. Those three ingredients make for a pretty solid summer day. Often the hardest part is deciding what to read. Fiction? Classics? Theology? Biography? There are so many choices and the decision can become overwhelming. In an effort to make your decision easier, we asked Facts & Trends readers what they would suggest for a summer reading list. Looking at the responses, here are 11 recently-released books with a quick description and a link to easily add them your summer reading library.

7 Times when Pastors Become Blasphemous — Chuck Lawless

Sometimes even we pastors lack a sincere reverence for God. We may speak otherwise, but our actions suggest that we don’t really see God as God. In fact, sometimes we act as if we’re God—and thus become blasphemous:

How Does Jesus Respond to Your Doubt? — Michael Kelley

We hoped. We believed. But then “it” happened. The disease. The job loss. The depression. The change in circumstances. And now here we are, wondering if we have been duped. Feeling foolish for putting our stock in an old story and a hilariously impossible Savior. So what would Jesus do with that doubt?

This Week at ThomRainer.com:

Who Are the Outcasts in (Some) Churches?

The church is supposed to be a place of welcome and refuge. But, for far too many people, it is a place of judgment and alienation. May God break our hearts with the things and people who break His heart…READ MORE

Five Reasons It’s Okay to Borrow Another Church’s Vision Statement

Many church leaders will admit the vision statement they use was adapted from another church. They often wonder if it is lazy and unethical to do so. I don’t think so…READ MORE