By Dr. Aaron Meraz, Director of Mission:Dignity, a ministry of GuideStoneWe are on a Mission to provide Dignity to retirement-aged Southern Baptist ministers, workers and their widows — the dignity that comes with knowing they’ve served the Lord faithfully and can pay their bills at the end of the month. Michael and Sandra Dowling have served the Lord together for …
By Hance Dilbeck The first sermon I preached was on a Sunday night at a small Oklahoma church. I preached on Revelation 2 and 3, the letters to the churches. I delivered it in about seven minutes. It was a train wreck. I’m thankful there are no recordings of that first sermon on YouTube! Through training, first at Oklahoma Baptist …
Life on mission is a life of service as worship — worship of Christ through service to his Church. For Baptist21’s Executive Director Nate Akin, that is what the MDiv at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary enabled him to do and what he saw modeled by his Southeastern professors in the classroom and on the mission field. Preparing students for a …
By Seth Hawkins Whether you’re breaking bread with new neighbors, celebrating a joyous occasion or lamenting grief with a trusted friend, what makes a house a home is the people coming in and out of its doors. So it is with vocational ministry; it may begin inside the church building, but ministry often extends to and through the walls of …
By Heath Thomas Although universities should help us understand what it means to live a meaningful life in our day, unfortunately they too often create confusion instead of clarity. Sadly, many of our young leaders are equipped to answer all the wrong questions and miss the right ones on our campuses. What are we to do? We can respond in …
By Dr. Mark Dance, GuideStone Director of Pastoral Wellness After pastoring in a fog of clinical depression for several months, I came very close to walking away from the church I was pastoring — and the ministry altogether. I had been pastoring for 22 years at the time and was burned out and fed up — mostly with myself. At …
By Heath A. Thomas The American university lost its soul, and we need to find it again. University education is a beautiful, noble, formative and helpful endeavor. At its best, university education is transformative: it effects change in people. But the question is…what do they become? We may see graduates who can land a job and make money, but all too often, …
By John Murphy, GuideStone Managing Director of Insurance Sales Social media has fundamentally changed the way we communicate with one another. Thoughts are broadcast to followers in a matter of seconds, generating quick public criticism or praise. Posts can be as entertaining as your latest vacation snapshot, as boring as your dinner plate and as controversial as the politics of …
By Dr. Aaron Meraz, Director of Mission:Dignity at GuideStone You are an answer to a widow’s prayers! Jeanetta Watson served with her husband, Wendell, in Oklahoma and Texas for 45 years. Wendell, a bi-vocational pastor, always pastored small churches that could not pay a full-time minister. Some of the jobs he worked to supplement his pastoral income included selling insurance, …
Why Memorize Whole Chapters and Books of the Bible? by Andrew Davis on April 19, 2022 Recently I have begun a discipleship book with a man in our church. The book is a classic by R. Kent Hughes entitled Disciplines Of A Godly Man. He begins by making a strong case for the essential role of discipline in the Christian life. …
