We cannot make someone experience conviction—that’s the work of the Holy Spirit. But we can cooperate with the Holy Spirit not only by proclaiming the gospel, but also by simply reading the Bible.

My dad often told me, “The debt we owe to the past is to leave the future indebted to us.” Here are 11 things I learned from my dad and grandfather that have sustained me for the last 65 years in ministry.

This week's links include resources on loving a prodigal child, on losing mom and the church, union with Christ, foster care, and men serving in kids ministry.

Real friends are candid and give counsel, but their love keeps it from being reckless. Real friends are careful with one another. They don’t want to push you away; they want to bring you nearer to themselves and to Jesus.

When we become Christians, we move from an “I” to a “We.” Therefore, the local church is a single, spiritual entity – an entity that ought to think and act corporately.

The wise pastor will become familiar with New Testament hyperlinks to the Old Testament and learn to move between anchor texts and their targets so as to rightly divide the Word of truth.​

Every now and again some well-meaning brother or sister will say to me, "This one's different. You gotta see it. It's not like the others." And then it is. It painfully, painfully is. 

This week's links include resources on protecting teens from pornography, living to die, disappointment in ministry, and how to live post-Advent. 

For most of us, "missions" isn’t at the forefront of Christmas considerations. Perhaps it should be.

Pastoring is a challenge no matter the size of the community, but having the right set of tools can make the job a little easier.  

This week's links include resources on everyday work, skipping resolutions, welcoming those with eating disorders, and when our waiting will be over. 

These were the 10 most-read posts at FTC over the last year.

Ministry is increasingly complex. We live in a zany world. The culture is imploding, ethical quandaries abound, our church members need, and will need, more from their ministers, not less.

It’s a tall order, but our job as the church is to help one another become like Christ in our thoughts, actions, and knowledge.​

This week's links include resources on the mega-joy of Christmas, when you're weary at Christmas, kids and new phones, and a Christmas carol for the weak. 

For many churches, a lack of equipping their women to love and study Scripture is a result of a lack of conviction about Scripture itself.​

We can leave the edges of our lives unreaped because we are confident in the generous provision of God.

This week's links include resources on loving your neighbor, hiring older church leaders, the effect of the curse, and misplaced compassion. 

While there are areas where the digital can be helpful, the Gospel and the church will always point to its cornerstone and head, Jesus Christ, who took on flesh and dwelt among us.​

This week's links include resources on boundaries in ministry, incarnation and work, routine Bible reading, and comforting suffering people.

The typical ways we view friendships, discipleship, and sanctification may be overlooking an important way God uses our relationships with others.

While singleness may, at times, be a function of cultural shifts and an extended adolescence among some adults, no single person remains single outside of the sovereignty—and goodness—of God.

Parents, when you’re so tired you can barely function, consider this a chance to enjoy the privilege of friendship, family, and fellowship in the body of Christ.

This week's links include resources on true beauty, Christianity without community, being alone during the holidays, and pastors visiting workplaces. 

Friends, none of us feels exactly what we ought to feel. But thank God we have a Bible that tells us the truth even if we can’t do the same thing for ourselves.

When God’s people gather together for worship, the next generation’s eyes are wide open.

This week's links include resources on homosexuality, Christian success, Jesus as a Baptist, listening to the hard of hearing, and church's handling accusations against elders.

This week's links include resources on a difficult marriage, if mission work is good, the early church, weeping for lost souls, Victoria's Secret, and going to church. 

What if the bigger issue in having your kids obey isn't their obedience, but rather, is your patience with them?

The greatness of both our sin and our forgiveness should inspire us to sing the greatness of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We can have meaningful church membership because what Jesus died for, he will also give life to. Jesus died for the church. He will give life to it.

This week's links include resources on church volunteers, love and marriage, hope in the sexual revolution, and resting in Jesus. 

If we are talking about the gospel in such a way that doesn’t ever make people want to go, we’re doing it wrong.

Parents, use the sacred space of car rides and other "as you go" moments to explore and deepen your family faith story with the people who matter most.

Choosing to hold a grudge is tremendously powerful, controlling others and you. Forgiving is even more powerful, liberating others and you.

This week's links include resources on moms who need to slow down, trendiness and the Bible, women who struggle with pornography, and Paul's example in politics. 

Jesus’ ministry in homes was a ministry of love. Such love in the most private of places was a most potent apologetic to an unbelieving world. It still is.

I don’t know of a person on Earth who doesn’t need to know what it feels like to be loved by God. Consequently, each week, with the Spirit’s help, we’re going to take our best shot at it.

What does Jesus think about those who have money and celebrity? Is there a place for them at his Table and in his circle of friends?

This week's links include resources on encouraging one another, women spreading the word, truths for grandparents, feeling God's love, loving your single friends, and pastors developing true friendships.