First Thoughts

Introduction: The Problem of Processed Food This week, I walked into a local grocery store and saw a brochure on the stand next to the sliding doors. The brochure had three medals on the front and one in the middle engraved with “USDA ORGANIC.” The flyer read, “You can feel better about buying… we don’t take these designations lightly.” This grocery store wants to put its customers at ease by using a trustworthy stamp of approval. The food they are selling is real, healthy food – authentical…

.embedtool {position: relative;height: 0;padding-top: 56%;overflow: hidden;max-width: 100%;} .embedtool iframe, .embedtool object, .embedtool embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } .embedtool .fluid-vids {position: initial !important} I’ve never met Mike Law or even had a conversation with him, but I do support his amendment to the constitution of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) that messengers will consider at our meeting in Indianapolis this June. T…

  Hope is powerful; so powerful it can radically alter the course of life, just like it did for Steven.[1] Currently in his sixties, Steven lived with anxiety and depression ever since his teen years. Over the decades, he has interacted with numerous doctors who prescribed him numerous medications that seemed to work for a little while, but he soon found himself battling the same feelings of sadness and worry. Although Steven claimed to be a believer, church was not much of a priority f…

A Gracious Invitation In 1909, The First Baptist Church of Jacksonville founded Riverside Baptist Church as one of dozens of churches it was planting around the city. A lot has changed in those 115 years. For starters, the church is now called Riverside Church at Park and King. More significantly, the church now openly affirms every manifestation of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle. The gay-affirming stance of Riverside Church places it at odds with the traditional understanding of biblical sexual ethics…

  Movements and Misunderstandings Steve sat in my office spewing accusations like sparks from a flame. He was furious as he charged that his wife, Lisa, didn’t love him, was unhappy in their marriage, and was in love with another man. As she listened to the barrage of accusations, Lisa broke down in tears. Through sobs, she was adamant that none of it was true, she loved her husband, her home, their kids, and their life together. She could not grasp why she was so misunderstood by the …

What Would David Powlison Do? Since releasing my essay, Priests in the Garden, Zombies in the Wilderness, and Prophets on the Wall: The Current State of the Contemporary Biblical Counseling Movement, I’ve had some conversations about the nature of the legacy of David Powlison. It will be obvious to most that no essay I would write, no analogy I could deploy, and no story I have shared could ever represent the legacy of a man as remarkable as David. I made this clear at the beginning of my ess…

In light of the strong response to my essay, Priests in the Garden, Zombies in the Wilderness, and Prophets on the Wall: The Current State of the Contemporary Biblical Counseling Movement, I want to share a few observations about what I am thinking, what I intend, and where we go from here. Peeling Back the Metaphor My essay makes a very clear argument that I develop in four stages. I express my concern that the biblical counseling movement has been infiltrated by people who are syncretizing …

David Powlison, Counter-Conversion, and The Biblical Counseling Movement The contemporary biblical counseling movement is in a significant state of transition. After a half-century of development and growth, most of the established leaders are gone, and newer ones are seeking to influence the contemporary conversation. At this very moment, our movement is discerning whose voices will be dominant and which institutions and organizations will have future influence. The voices in this transition…

In recent years, corporal punishment has received a resounding rejection from most Americans. The “Gentle Parenting” movement has erupted in reaction to wrongful uses of spanking, and it has caused many to forsake spanking altogether. Large organizations such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations have released statements condemning “any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.” The American Psych…

When we read God’s Word, we see that the grace we need for all of these days, whether we’re in our early adult years or farther along in our life here on earth, is a gift from God. God is the giver of grace (James 5:6). There is an old hymn that I love very much. It is named “He Giveth Again.” I want to tell you a little of the story of the hymn writer of this hymn, Annie Johnson Flint. Annie had been born on Christmas Eve, 1866, in Vineland, N.J., to parents Eldon and Jean Johnson, and they …