Sabbatical: What Are We Doing?
Gardner Gordon is a friend of mine from seminary who planted Coquina Community Church in St. Augustine, Florida, the same year that we planted Coram Deo. For seven years now, we’ve been trading church planting stories, sharing wisdom, and occasionally talking one another off the ledge. Gardner and his wife Frances have consistently invited Leigh and me to come to St. Augustine any time we want to get away. We’re finally taking them up on the offer.
Five Reasons for A Pastoral Sabbatical
During the months of November and December, I am taking a sabbatical leave from my pastoral duties at Coram Deo – and from my normal rhythms of life and ministry. Below are five reasons for a pastoral sabbatical. These reasons, among others, explain why more and more churches are making sabbaticals a regular practice.
The Sermon on the Mount: Money
After this morning's teaching on Matthew 6:19-24, a thoughtful young man in Coram Deo emailed me with a question about student loans. I thought I'd post it here, because I think it's a common question.His Question:Pastor Bob: I was wondering if you would consider student debt to be investment debt or consumer debt? Just curious because I’m seriously considering going back to college, but I’d need to get some loans to do so. I already have some moderate student debt that I’ve been faithfully paying off the last five years, so I’m wondering if it would be biblically acceptable to get more student loans.
All The Single Ladies: Audio
A few weeks ago, my wife and I sat down with six of our friends for a very interesting question-and-answer session. These six successful, vivacious, post-college single women wanted to talk freely and openly about dating, marriage, and sex from a gospel-informed, biblical perspective. They spent a week gathering and sorting their best questions and then joined Leigh and me in our living room to invite our answers.
Coram Deo Is Hosting a Redemption Group Immersion
Redemption Groups are intensely focused small groups that dig into difficult and seldom-discussed areas of sin and suffering. They got their start 4 years ago at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, as the pastors there wrestled with the weaknesses of traditional “recovery groups” and sought to pioneer a more biblical, gospel-based approach to pastoral counseling. As Coram Deo formed its own convictions about biblical counseling, we looked to Mars Hill and other Acts 29 churches for insight and partnership. Coram Deo is now one of only four churches in the United States qualified to host a Redemption Group Immersion. So we’re deeply honored to be hosting an Immersion here in Omaha on October 4-6.
Lloyd-Jones: Why is the Church Superficial?
"I cannot help feeling that the final explanation of the state of the Church today is a defective sense of sin and a defective doctrine of sin. Coupled with that, of course, is a failure to understand the true nature of Christian joy... There is not the real, deep conviction of sin as was once the case; and on the other hand there is this superficial conception of joy and happiness which is very different indeed from that which we find in the New Testament. Thus the defective doctrine of sin and the shallow idea of joy, working together, of necessity produce a superficial kind of person and a very inadequate kind of Christian life."- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Studies in the Sermon on the Mount
Impudent Prayer
"Impudence seems to best describe this man's actions, but how are we supposed to be impudent before God? Are we supposed to 'bother' him in the middle of the night? Or perhaps we should pray in the nude? This story seems only to raise questions. Jesus goes on to teach that if you seek you will find, knock and the door will be opened, ask and you shall receive. But I spent ten years asking God for very specific things – things in line with his will – and he didn’t give me any of those things. Why not?"
CS Lewis: Why A Community Needs a Mission
Thanks to the 400 or so people who joined us for the Coram Deo Missional Community Bootcamp last weekend - including many who traveled from places as far away as Denver and Dayton. And thanks to Dundee Presbyterian Church for the use of their beautiful and historic building.One of the points we made at the Bootcamp was that community won't necessarily lead to mission, but mission will always lead to community. A community can't just be about "community;" it needs a mission to sustain it.