Words are wonderful things. Words are powerful things. Words express ideas. Words encourage the downtrodden. Words change history. Depending on which translation you read there are approximately 800,000 words in your English Bible. One of the most powerful words in the Bible is “but.” With it authors change the course of the storyline. With it… Continue reading “But” Nothing or Everything
Author: Peter Beck
Peter Beck serves as professor of Christian Studies and director of the Honors Program at Charleston Southern University. In addition to his book The Voice of Faith: Jonathan Edwards’ Theology of Prayer, he has published numerous articles on Jonathan Edwards, the Puritans and Baptist studies. Additionally, Peter has more than twelve years of pastoral experience and currently serves as Lead Pastor of Doorway Baptist Church in North Charleston, SC. You can follow him on Twitter at @DrPeterBeck.
The Gospel of Forgiveness
We are about to celebrate America’s 242nd year of independence. July 4th, Independence Day, reminds us of the various freedoms God graciously provided us as a nation. We are free to vote for whom we wish. We are free to live wherever we wish. We are free to worship how we wish. We have a… Continue reading The Gospel of Forgiveness
Full-Time Ministry on a Part-Time Basis
I felt called into the ministry 23 years ago. At the time I had no idea what that meant, what it entailed, or what I was going to do. The only thing that I knew for certain was that I was going into the ministry. Like so many others before me, my understanding of the… Continue reading Full-Time Ministry on a Part-Time Basis
How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
The poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning once asked, “How do I love thee?” Then she counted the ways. Every one of us loves our church. We could sit down and count the ways. Yet, each of us loves our church in different ways. How do you love your church? Let’s think about this for a while.… Continue reading How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Ways
Yours, Mine, and Ours
Yours, Mine and Ours. That’s the name of a movie first released in 1968 and remade in 2005. It’s the perfect metaphor for life in the community we call church. The plot is simple. Man meets woman. Man and woman fall in love. Man and woman marry. Man and woman adjust to life together. Add… Continue reading Yours, Mine, and Ours
re·viv·al
One of the great things about studying history is that God brings to our remembrance the mighty and wonderful things he has done in the past. Did you know that a number of great revivals have swept across our nation over the years? Jonathan Edwards, pastor of a small frontier town in Massachusetts in the… Continue reading re·viv·al
Evangelism and the Self-Disciplined Christian
Okay, we all admit that the church isn’t doing enough to reach the lost. Sure, there are libraries full of evangelism how-to books and enough training material to start a university, but those things aren’t making much of a difference. Some people don’t know which books are worth reading. Others have been trained in EE… Continue reading Evangelism and the Self-Disciplined Christian
“God Bless Us, Every One”
Tiny Tim – no, not the talentless twit from the 60s who sang of tiptoeing through the tulips – knew a lot about Christmas. Of course, the Tiny Tim I’m talking about lived in the pages of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.” Tiny Tim, he of the teeny crutch, knew what Christmas was all about.… Continue reading “God Bless Us, Every One”
A Thanksgiving Reminder
[EDITOR’S NOTE: We published this article last Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be a good reminder for us this year as well.] “Be thankful, therefore, for the least benefit and thou shalt be worthy to receive greater. Let the least be unto thee even as the greatest, and let that which is of little… Continue reading A Thanksgiving Reminder
A Thanksgiving Resolution
“Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.” George Washington issued that proclamation in… Continue reading A Thanksgiving Resolution