We have just concluded another successful Serious Joy: The Bethlehem Conference for Pastors, thanks to the incredible work of our speakers, conference staff, and volunteers. This year’s theme of “I Will Build My Church” was an energizing and promise-fulfilling series of messages for pastors who have faithfully persevered through years of trial, societal stress, and […]
Christianity grew from 9% of Africa’s population in the year 1900 to 49% in 2010 (source: Operation World). This growth has massively outstripped the training of leaders; according Dr. Conrad Mbewe, 90% of pastors in Africa are untrained. Without solid, Biblical training for their shepherds, the flock is easy prey for wolves, such as those […]
On Tuesday this week I had the joy of preaching in chapel to the men at The Master’s Seminary in Los Angeles, California. (Over the years I’ve enjoyed watching conversations between their chancellor, John MacArthur, and our chancellor, John Piper—for example, in 2007 and 2022.) I tailored the sermon specifically to pastors and to pastors-in-training. […]
I attended my first Desiring God Conference for Pastors two decades ago with a group of pastors and students from my church in Illinois. The 2004 conference theme was Money, Ministry, and the Magnificence of Christ, with messages from John Piper, Randy Alcorn, Dwight Perry, and the late George Verwer. It was a time of […]
Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. — 1 Peter 1:13 Our gracious God has once again stirred a tsunami of generosity that has washed over our Bethlehem College and Seminary students and the […]
While many are familiar with the Master of Divinity program designed to equip men to lead churches, they may not know that Bethlehem also seeks to equip the women who will stand by these men in their noble pursuit. (1 Tim 3:1) We go about this task of equipping women in five key ways–through large […]
97 years separates the birth of my most influential teacher (Dan Fuller) and the birth of my most recent granddaughter…
“Behold the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing of the words of the LORD.” — Amos 8:11 ESV The United States of America remains by far the world’s largest agricultural exporter, shipping $177 […]
Saints, advent is a season of groaning and gladness — gladness that Christ has come and groaning for Christ to come again. Advent is an in-between-time when we wait with desire for the Second coming, as we remember with delight the First. Christ has come; Christ will come again. Look at Isaiah 9, which perfectly […]
The idea of pursuing righteousness, of a fruit-producing faith, seems so far beyond our everyday lives in this sin-drenched world. It might seem impossible, and, as we know, impossible tasks cause one to lose hope. In his De Trinitate, a fourth-century treatise on the doctrine of the Trinity, Augustine mentions a principle that all teachers […]