As Proverbs 18:17b says, “The first to speak seems right, until someone comes forward and cross-examines.” Or as my friend Daniel likes to say, “There’s no pancake so thin that it doesn’t have two sides.” For example, you’ve probably counseled: A parent whose teenage son refuses to come in to meet with you A church member who has conflict with out-of-state … [Read more...]
“Pastor, help! My child doesn’t listen to me!”
“We don’t know what else to do with our son. He just doesn’t listen to us.” And that’s your cue to dispense advice that resolves this frazzled couple’s parenting crisis. So, what do you say? Before you answer, know this: these parents discipline their son Brian. Nothing crazy, they just administer consistent and appropriate consequences for bad behavior. When Brian … [Read more...]
4 ways to prevent hurting people from giving up on God
God is like an elevator; He lets people down—at least that’s what many people I’ve met would say. In my work for Church Initiative, building curricula to help suffering people, I’ve interviewed a number of people who’ve lost loved ones, have been betrayed by lovers, misunderstood, misrepresented, and mistreated in dozens of ways. And I’ve noticed that quite a few of them have … [Read more...]