Blog Entries

Dec 6

2023 For the Church Book Awards by Staff

Series: Book Reviews

Like year’s past, we are excited to present our readers with a few books that stood out as exceptional from this past year. For our seventh annual For the Church book awards, members of our FTC council, editorial staff, and seminary community chose two books—a winner and a runner-up—to honor and to recommend to you […]

Dec 6

Through Agony, Comes Forth Life: How Childbirth Points Us To The Hope Found in Christ’s Death by Haylee Williams

A few weeks ago, I was reading through the Gospel of Mark and came upon the narrative of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. As I read the words of Jesus “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will,” I felt […]

Dec 5

9 Biblical Methods for Encouraging One Another by Caleb Davis

The Need for Encouragement Would you take more encouragement if you could get it? Have you ever felt like you had no more need of encouragement? What would be possible in your life if you lived with a continual diet of encouragement from others? These questions help reveal something we all intuitively know: We need […]

Nov 20

Am I A Good Mom? by Haylee Williams

I feel like such a failure. Growing up, I became accustomed to objective standards of success defining whether or not I had succeeded. An ‘A+’ signifies a job well done. A winning record in my collegiate sport proves my hard work. Even in marriage, a “Great job!” from my husband means I am accomplishing my […]

Nov 16

On Vice and Virtue by Joseph Lanier

In volume two of his trilogy, Ethics as Theology, Oliver O’Donovan attempts to “follow moral thought from self-awareness to decision through the sequence of virtues from faith to hope.”1 Here, O’Donovan begins with a sort of reorientation related to the ‘Spirit and Self.’ This reorientation is attempting to respond rightly to the divine summons in […]

Nov 10

The Purpose of Theology in Times of Uncertainty by Jason G. Duesing

For the first time in centuries, England had no King. What started with saber rattling led to a fractious civil war. After years of conflict during the 1640s, the anti-royalists terminated the war with a celebratory sabrage of the monarchy. Many declared the end of the world had come. For students at Oxford University, this […]

Oct 10

Start With The End: 3 Reasons You Should Try Writing the Conclusion of Your Sermon First by Andy Shurson

Have you ever listened to a sermon and felt like the preacher did not know how to stop talking? “Just land the plane” is an encouragement you may have heard before. Preaching is hard and ending the sermon with a satisfying conclusion is even harder. You can have the most engaging opening story, great exegesis, […]

Sep 21

The Secret to Loving Your Wife Better: Love Jesus Better by Tim Counts

I recently heard somebody say that one of the ways to endure well in ministry is to realize that ministry is not about you, it’s all about Jesus. The same is true of marriage. When you embrace that marriage is about Jesus first, and you and your wife second, one of the secrets of a […]

Sep 19

How Jesus Wanted Us to Read His Gospel by Ashley Anthony

Today my son found months-old Saltines at the bottom of a wicker basket. I pried his mouth open and begged him to spit them out, but he slipped away, swallowing his prize with a grin. In the next room, strewn across the floor and his high chair, sat his half-eaten lunch. I’ll never understand what […]

Sep 11

25 Quotes from *Friendship with the Friend of Sinners* by Jared C. Wilson

“The good news is, we aren’t high maintenance to Jesus.”