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Rural Is Not a Plan B: Recovering the Strategic Significance of Small-Town Church Planting
Dan Steel
“When I told a friend we were planting in a rural town, he looked at me like I’d failed the church planter audition.” That was the half-joking confession from a friend, but it reveals something real. In much of the...
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Gospel Sanity in an Insane World
Barnabas Piper
One of my ministerial and theological pet peeves is when Christians, especially pastors, respond to contentious societal issues with a glib “that’s a gospel issue.” I’ve seen this response offered to racial disputes, political disputes, and just about every other...
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3 Steps to Stronger Preaching: Lessons from the Offseason
Noah Oldham
This summer, my son Chaim finished up his 13U baseball season. He’s a catcher, a pitcher, an infielder, and a hitter who plays with all his heart—and this season was a turning point. Among the many improved stats, one thing...

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Finding a Facility
Adam Muhtaseb
The arduous process of finding a facility can be the means by which God shows His glory most in your life and in the church He’s trusted you to lead.

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Presence Over Perfection
Heather Oldham
If you’ve been in ministry for more than five minutes, you know the pull: the endless list of “urgent” needs, the meetings, the counseling sessions, the events, the texts that always seem to come at bedtime. And if you’re a...

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Spurgeon’s 13 Points for Keeping People’s Attention
J.A. Medders
Great preachers are more than attention-getters. They are attention-keepers. They are attention-herders. They are attention-protectors. Every preacher is in a battle against the world, the flesh, and the devil for the attention of their hearers. Even Spurgeon, the Prince of...

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The Bitter Aftertaste of Broken Friendships
Ronnie Martin
I spent some of my formative years living in a rural area of southern California. It was a little-known valley that contained all kinds of mountainy paths, gurgling creeks, and grassy meadows to explore to your heart’s content. In the...