Church
Ask the pastor: What’s the difference between the United Methodists and Southern Baptists?
Ask the pastor: What’s the difference between the United Methodists and Southern Baptists? This is a timely question as a number of people have recently left United Methodist churches (UMC) and some are ending up at Southern Baptist churches (SBC). This begs the question… what are the differences between the two denominations? Before I got this question, I did not know a ton about the UMC so I had to do some research and below is what I found. But…
Should We Sing Songs Written By Catholics and Pentecostals?
Hypothetical question here: As a Baptist, would you sing a song written by a Catholic? Would you sing a song written by someone who holds to prosperity theology? What about someone who does not believe in the Trinity? Those may be hypothetical questions to you, but they are very real to me. Each week, as we select songs, we come across a lot of popular ones written by people we don’t agree. Should we sing their music? Matt Maher, who…
If You Love Your Pastor, Do These (Free) Things…
Before I became a pastor, I used to attend church every Sunday and watch the pastor on stage and think, “Wow, what a great job he has! He must really enjoy it!” And because I thought he had an amazing job, I never really told him how amazing he was or that I thought he was doing a great job. I just sort of assumed that he knew. Years later, I am now that man on stage preaching every week.…
Don’t Neglect Church
Dear Church Family, We have now been enduring the effects of the coronavirus for three months. It has changed many aspects of our lives. As your pastor, I want to encourage you to stay focused on the things that matter during this strange time. One trend I have noticed throughout — both in our church and what I have heard from other churches — is that some folks have stopped attending church. So let me talk specifically to Island Ponders.…