I love spring! After cold, harsh weather, the sun shines warmly on us. Spring is preparation for growth. People are preparing their gardens by pulling the weeds that have grown during the winter months. We are tilling the soil, adding nutrients to help those seeds, which will be planted, to grow into plants.

Several weeks ago a devastating storm ripped through our city. Over 1,000 houses were destroyed, and tragically, four lives were lost. I was out of town for a youth rally when the messages began lighting up my phone. Church members were asking if we were okay.

I thank God for the gift of music. I am particularly thankful for sacred, Christ-honoring music. Music is an integral part of worship and edification. It can draw our hearts closer to the Lord and reinforce scriptural truths in our minds, or it can weaken our walk with God and pull our flesh toward the world.

For thirty years, Dean Herring spent his life ministering in South Georgia. During that time, he spent eight years as a youth minister, two years in evangelism, and twenty years as a pastor. He had the privilege of preaching at numerous youth camps, marriage retreats, and conferences across the country each year. But after a visit to Treasure Valley in southern Idaho, God began to impress upon the hearts of the Herring family that He wanted them to move to the area and plant a Baptist church.

Everyone has faith in something or someone. We place our faith in the vehicle we drive to work and the simple appliances that we use. It is truly amazing how many things that we place our faith in throughout our daily lives.

Have you ever gotten to the end of a “day off” and felt just as exhausted as you did at the beginning? Have you ever looked back over the day and wished for a do over?

This year, my church’s theme is taken from two passages of Scripture, one in the Old Testament and one in the New. The first is Psalm 46:10 which says: “Be still and know that I am God.” This verse is especially applicable to those of us in ministry. If we do not know God well, we will struggle with trusting God fully and submitting ourselves to Him.

Most people are somehow under the impression that special days in a church just happen and that the preparation comes together on its own. Having a special day of any kind takes hard work and much preparation if it is to be effective.

We know that a biblical perspective on our finances is based in the awareness that God is the ultimate owner of everything and has entrusted resources to us to steward, or manage, for Him. Our job, then, is to be faithful stewards.

It’s easy to talk about faithfulness and to assume we are faithful just because we have the desire to be. But what does faithful stewardship look like in terms of our day-to-day lives?

Over the years, I have observed five habits consistently present in those who wisely handle finances. 

In 1989, First Baptist Church of Plattsmouth, Nebraska was on the brink of closing its doors. The church had been without a pastor for eighteen months. An elderly couple and one widow were the only church members remaining. But they decided to launch out by faith to call a new pastor. They believed God wanted their church to go forward, though many obstacles stood in the way.