"Sex follows love, it never precedes it." - Sophia Loren

It's spring break, and these words will fall deaf upon a generation of over-expressive young adults, indulging themselves to their hearts desire. Guys looking for the next lay will find it. Girls looking for companionship, will find, if just for a night. And in a week, all will be behind them, but surely not forgotten. A somewhat...

Flirting is a dangerous game of "how close can I get to the ledge without actually falling off of it." This is a game that is played way too often in relationships, and when it comes to pastoral relationships, a game that is often unintentionally played. As pastors, we have this kind of blind trust from those we lead. When we hug, or joke, or look at someone a certain way, it can be easily...

Think about the title for a moment: Porn Makes Me....Wonder How This Affects Church Staff. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have to wonder. You see, almost a decade ago I was an intern at the church I came to Christ at and we were sitting in a staff meeting in the office discussing the upcoming Christmas schedule. We dialogued for a solid hour or two and at its conclusion, went on our way as a...

Now if you thought being transparent with your superiors was difficult, and if you thought it was gut wrenching to be vulnerable with your accountability partner, I can almost feel you wriggling around in your chair uncomfortably right now, as if the hammer of guilt and awkwardness were crushing down upon your skull. Because we all know, there is nothing more difficult to accept than the fact...

Accountability Part 1 How To Be Transparent W/ Your Superiors

Who is that one person, or perhaps a group of really close friends, that you trust exclusively with your life? These are people who you know you can confide in without fear of condescension, without fear of ridicule; people who choose to build you up instead of tearing you down? Do you have these kinds of friends? If you do, we want...

There is this self-destructive thought out there that if people knew who you really were, they would be disgusted and head for the hills. After all, who wants a pastor who is a mess, who can’t keep their life in order, whose baggage is up front and center? The thing is, we are all messed up, and some more than others. This is this pedestal that pastors are placed on, and when they fall down,...

I will be attempting to answer that question in a four part series of blogs starting on Tuesday. Accountability is mission critical for pastors. The pastoral call to live a life above reproach, setting the model life, and living like Jesus Christ so that others may follow, is not always an easy one. In fact, it is bare-knuckles difficult.

Because of this, we want to encourage our pastoral...

Let's face it: pornography is much more prevalent in the lives of today's teens than anyone would ever like to admit. First of all, pornography is socially acceptable, meaning that there are literally no boundaries to teens in this area. We hear it said that porn is for adults, but honestly, today's teen generation is the most connected generation ever. This is the second problem: pornography...