Posts by Don Johnson
100th FBFI Annual Fellowship Conference begins Today
And, I, alas, will not be present. The Covid-19 pandemic wiped out our plans last summer, so our 100th conference occurs this year, rather than last year. However, some restrictions remain in place internationally. Canada’s border restrictions make it impossible for me to attend. I wish I could be there. The FBFI truly is a…
Read MoreResources on Manhood and Womanhood
This week our theme came to be the roles of men and women in our various relationships, especially concerning ordination to Christian ministry. Recent controversy in the Southern Baptist Convention gave the impetus for these articles. Here are our contributions for this week: Ordination of Women: Some Issues Just Won’t Go Away by Jeff Straub…
Read MoreWalk by the Spirit
The “fruit of the Spirit” passage is one of those so familiar to us that we often take little time to think about it. When we do think about it, we concentrate on getting all the terms just so. We are either blowing past it in our Bible reading or analyzing it to the nth…
Read MoreWhy American Church Membership Is Plummeting
Much of what we know—or think we know—about American religion is shaped by surveys and polls. The news media loves these polls, and so do many pastors. The latest instance is a Gallup poll showing that, for the first time in eight decades of polling on the issue, less than 50 percent of Americans “said…
Read MoreWhere Is Your Joy?
In Galatians 5, the last point of the chapter discusses walking in the Spirit (Gal 5.16-26). A major point of that discussion is “the fruit of the Spirit” in vv. 22-23. Preaching through the passage, a list like this gives me a glorious opportunity to slow right down in my usual “glacial” method of Bible…
Read MoreLet My People Go! (to Church)
Those of us pastoring churches in Canada find it strange to have American’s paying attention to the goings on around here. Part of the big story of the last year (the Covid Crisis) is the arrest of Canadian pastor James Coates in Alberta for defying Public Health orders. On Proclaim & Defend, we’ve covered the…
Read MoreWho Is Running the Zoo Now?
By now you have heard, no doubt, that Dr. Seuss Enterprises withdrew six Dr. Seuss titles from publication because “These books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong.” The announcement came on March 2, which happens to be Dr. Seuss’ birthday and Read Across America Day. Ironically, Read Across America Day occurs on…
Read MoreThinking About a Pastor in a Canadian Jail
A story out of my old home town appeared on many media outlets reported last week, including this one: Canadian Pastor Jailed Over COVID-19 Violations | Christianity Today. Of course, such stories arrest the attention of most Christians and cause immediate concern. We are sensitive to stories of persecution. Persecution is a reality in recent…
Read MorePandemic division causing pastors to leave ministry, counselor says – Baptist Press
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) – Brian Croft jokes that masks are the new “color of the carpet argument” in churches, with similarly poor outcomes. Pastors are resigning from the stress “kind of in a way I’ve never really seen.” … “Once masks and no masks got politicized, and once masks and no masks became about what’s…
Read MoreCovid-19, Virtual Meetings, and Communion
In response to a question from one of the people in our church, I asked several friends in the ministry for their take. The question was along these lines, “I noticed that X Church across town holds a ‘virtual communion’ with their services. Should we do something like that?” My instinct throughout this crisis is…
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