“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16‬:‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) If you were to ask someone to describe the church, they would likely begin to speak of a building. They would describe a structure of bricks and mortar with columns and a steeple. But that is not the church. That is the place where the church assembles for worship, instruction, and to prepare to go on mis

Recently, I was touched by a Facebook post from one of our Haywood Baptist pastors, Tracy Smith. He was speaking of the discouragement he was feeling as a pastor of a smaller congregation. I got the feeling that he felt isolated and forgotten. All pastors struggle. Been there, done that. For most of 50 years, I have pastored churches—in the country and in the city, both small and large. Each faced challenges and presented opportunities. Sometimes, I was ready to quit. A few t

“Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.” (Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬) The infidel Voltaire once impudently boasted that, “Fifty years from now the world will hear no more of the Bible.” How ironic that on the day the British Museum paid over $500,000 for a manuscript of the Bible, one could purchase a first edition of Voltaire’s works in Paris for about eight cents! I doubt many of you have read (or even heard of) Voltaire, but the Bible