Wherever the gospel is blurred, diluted, or rejected I will continue to evangelize. I will evangelize ‘Christians’ who depend upon the church and its sacraments to gradually infuse God’s saving grace into them; I will evangelize those whose clearest understanding of being a Christian is “I was baptized’ or ‘I go to Church’ or ‘I Read more

I am coming to the end of 9 months of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Last night I gave a final presentation to my peer group on how I viewed the experience. I read a paper which expressed my beliefs concerning Christ, the gospel, and the authority of Read more

My schedule hasn't left me much time to write recently. So once more I would like to direct you to my brother John's blog on "Clarifying the Means of Grace."

Last night, after one and a half years of gathering for worship, Grace Church welcomed its first members. About twenty people affirmed vows concerning their beliefs and commitments. Others, who were absent or due to an absent spouse, will be welcomed next week. Urban church planting is slow work. Some may find it surprising that Read more

This past Sunday night Grace Church baptized three men – a university professor with a PhD, a Vietnam veteran, and an ex-con recently released from prison. My brother John baptized the first two men. I had the opportunity to baptize the third man, Billy, who I met in prison as his counselor. Billy was probably Read more

A recent internet article degenerated when one of the posters called a well-known and much loved professor by his first name. Some who know the professor personally took offense that someone would have the audacity to call an esteemed professor by his first name. Really, has it come to this? I do not know the Read more

First, they all need a Savior. Second, they stayed at our home over the past month and are from four different countries.  As a bi-vocational church planter I was looking at some ways to help us pay the rent. One day I read an article in Forbes about airbnb.com and since we had a guestroom Read more

When we moved back into Philly two years ago one of our burdens was to see churches planted in different neighborhoods. Six months ago a church in my old neighborhood in North Philly reached out for help. The church has been in existence for 120 years. The neighborhood had changed and the church had shrunk Read more

"Those of us doing urban church planting confess our obsession. We believe it is a good and God-honoring investment of lives and that it is so good that we want to persuade other to prayerfully consider the city."  Read more at the Gospel First

Urban church planting is a focus, a needed and neglected emphasis. It is not a more spiritual work than suburban church planting. In some settings urban church planting might be more challenging where there is little gospel presence, where there are fewer Christians to constitute a core group, where there are more livability issues due Read more