Resources by Charlie Wingard
After family and church, Scouting was the most significant influence in my young life. Fifty years ago today I received the rank of Eagle Scout. I am grateful to my Dad, who encouraged me to join Troop 339, sponsored by his church in Smyrna, Tennessee. In 1974, I moved to Troop 120 in McMinnville, Tennessee. One of Scouting’s primary purposes, Dad said, was to teach young men wilderness survival skills. My Scoutmasters – Mr. Craig, Mr. Justice, and Mr. Van Cleve – led by example, and held me to high standards. They made a lasting investment in my life. I no longer have any formal association with Scouting. In 1973, my troop shared the same commitment to my moral and…
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The heart of American Christians rightly goes out to persecuted Christians in other parts of the world. But we mustn’t forget that our nation has its own tragic history of persecuting believers. The persecutors have often been professing members of the Christian church. Sixty years ago today Denise McNair looked forward to a special Sunday. She would participate in her church’s Sunday morning service, which would conclude with the sermon, “The Love That Forgives.” She dressed carefully for the day. The case above includes her purse, Buster Brown shoes, a Ten Commandment bracelet — and the piece of brick removed from her skull, a fragment of the explosion that claimed her life. Three 14 year-old friends perished with her: Addie…
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Conrad Mbewe, Pastoral Preaching: Building a People for God. Carlisle, England: Langham Partnership, 2017. $20.99. Every year Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson hosts the John Reed Miller Preaching Lectures. Guest ministers speak to various aspects of the life and work of the minister. Both students and veteran preachers leave encouraged in the Lord. Our 2015 lecturer was Conrad Mbewe, who for three decades has pastored Kabwata Baptist Church in Lusaka, Zambia. I found his lectures to be among the best I have heard on preaching. The instruction was clear, direct, and winsome, offering entirely satisfying nuts-and-bolts counsel to the preacher. Judging by the feedback, students were as personally renewed in their commitment to biblical preaching as I was. The publication of Mbewe’s Pastoral…
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I am grateful to serve with a ministerial staff that is expected to pray – and does pray with and for the church. Yesterday each of First Presbyterian Church of Jackson’s ministers received Dr. David Irving’s Devote Yourself to Prayer. “Brother pastors,” he writes, “it is your duty to be devoted to prayer for your people. To put it bluntly, it is your job to pray.” This outstanding booklet demonstrates from Acts 6:1-7 the principal role of prayer in the apostles’ work. It summons pastors to reflect on the duty, difficulty, discipline, and delight of prayer. His reflections are full of sound Bible teaching, quotations from praying pastors, and practical advice for those who are serious about dedicating themselves…
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In the early years of American involvement in World War II, only the Marine Corps suffered a higher fatality rate than the United States Merchant Marine. The Merchant Marine delivered critical military supplies from around the world to besieged Britain and the Soviet Union. Without the courage of its mariners, the war with Germany would surely have been lost. To say that these men were courageous does not do justice to their ordeals, sacrifices, and achievements. Early in the the war their vessels sailed in isolation, making them vulnerable targets for German U-boats. Even after the development of the convoy system, U-boat wolfpacks slipped undetected into convoys and wreaked destruction. When men survived the torpedoing of their ships, chances of…
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I love practical ministry books, but there can be a downside: detached from scriptural theology, they become manipulative, promoting worldly methodologies to achieve ends that are at odds with the holiness of life that God seeks for his church. Ultimately, the minister and his work must be shaped by the character of God, who has revealed himself in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. True, a minister must understand the needs of his church and community as he pursues his work. But every plan must also be brought to the touchstone of Scripture and tested for its biblical fidelity. To that end, pastors will find Theology for Ministry: How Doctrine Affects Pastoral Life and Practice a most helpful book.…
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