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Now Writing at Substack

Filed Under: Uncategorized

I’m glad you made it here. I’m now writing over at Substack. Would love to connect with you over there.

January 31, 2023 by Leave a Comment

Who’s Following Whom?

Filed Under: Stories

Here’s an original story I told at the end of my message yesterday. The message was based on Mark 1:14-20, in which Jesus calls four fishermen to follow him. I would love to hear your response to this story. ***** Once there was a man who, when he was backing out of his garage at […]

January 20, 2014 by 1 Comment

Chasing The Short Sermon

Filed Under: Preaching

I am haunted by long sermons. Not really, but I needed a dramatic opening sentence. I have written before about the length of an ideal sermon. A sermon should be only as long as is necessary for you to make your point in a memorable way. This means, in most cases, a sermon should rarely […]

January 10, 2014 by 13 Comments

What To Do When Hell Freezes Over (How to Survive an Ice Storm)

Filed Under: Stories

I got an email from an old friend this week. I thought you might enjoy reading his tale. ****** Dear Wade, How’s it going? You’re never gonna believe what happened to us this past week. We had one of the worst ice storms in the history of the world hit us squarely between the eyes. […]

December 11, 2013 by 2 Comments

The Bag of Walnuts

Filed Under: Stories

I told this story yesterday as part of a teaching on justice. It is adapted from a snippet of a folktale I read years ago. There’s a lot going on in this short tale. I’d love to hear what you hear in this story. ******* Once upon a time three kids found a bag of […]

November 11, 2013 by 6 Comments

How (Not) To Overcome Sin

Filed Under: Parenting, Stories, Theology

Not long ago, I had a theological conversation with one of my sons. We ended up talking about sin. Out of nowhere he declared, “I believe you can so much that God will not let you into heaven.” “Can you sin so much that God will stop loving you?” I asked. “No. God will never […]

November 8, 2013 by 2 Comments

The Three Sermons In My Head

Filed Under: Preaching

I preached my first Sunday morning sermon at a small church in Alpine, Texas. I travelled there from Abilene with a small group of students who would go to small town churches on the weekends and lead the worship service. They needed a preacher and I volunteered. Afterward, an older man who had preached his […]

September 5, 2013 by 3 Comments

Easily Influenced

Filed Under: Pop Culture, Television

I am easily influenced by what I watch on TV. Watching Happy Days made me want to wear a black leather jacket. Watching The Andy Griffith Show made me want to be a small town sheriff. Watching Magnum PI made me want to be a private investigator in Hawaii. Watching The Dukes of Hazzard made […]

September 3, 2013 by 1 Comment

A Texas Prayer

Filed Under: Random

Today I had the honor of serving as “Pastor of the Day” for the Texas House of Representatives. My responsibilities included saying an opening prayer at today’s legislative session. (This was actually my only responsibility.) Here’s an early version of the prayer I wrote for the occasion. (If you’re not from Texas some of the […]

May 13, 2013 by 9 Comments

Nine Reasons CrossFit Changes Lives

Filed Under: Crossfit, Spiritual Fitness

Last week I taught three classes at the Pepperdine Lectures about what churches can learn from CrossFit. The material was reverse engineered from my book, Train For Something Greater: An Athlete’s Guide to Spiritual Fitness, available at Amazon.com. Here are nine observations I shared about the life changing environment at a typical CrossFit gym. Let the reader […]

May 8, 2013 by Leave a Comment
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