When Churches Are Abused by Their Pastors
By Donavon Riley
10/08/25
11mins

When Churches Are Abused by Their Pastors

When a congregation is abused by its pastor, it loses more than a shepherd. It loses its threshold place; that fragile seam between earth and heaven.
Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
10/07/25

Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

We can lay down our sledgehammers of moralistic performance, which aren’t effective anyway, and we can trust that we are his and his life is ours.
Big Questions About Faith, Love, and, Salvation
Jason Oakland
Jason Oakland
10/06/25

Big Questions About Faith, Love, and, Salvation

Faith takes God at his word and holds his promise to be true for me because I know God would not lie to me.

All Articles

Peter Nafzger
Peter Nafzger
06/12/21

Gospel: Mark 4:35-41 (Pentecost 4: Series B)

The only one who is truly worthy of fear shows He cares for His disciples and desires to save them. Not only them, but all who are perishing.
Luke Kjolhaug
Luke Kjolhaug
06/11/21

Freedom From Parsing

Only when we’re ready to accept the impossibility of human perfection can we move beyond the paralyzing myth that we are capable of anything good apart from Christ.
Peter Nafzger
Peter Nafzger
06/05/21

Gospel: Mark 4:26-34 (Pentecost 3: Series B)

We know not how, and we do not know when, but God works according to His perfect will and His perfect timing.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
06/03/21

Answering the Universal Inquiry of Humanity

Everyone is living as a naked sufferer who’s been duped into believing that the nakedness of suffering has to be covered up.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
06/02/21

You Are Not Forgotten

We prefer God to forgive our sin by not paying attention to it. Then our prayer is not for grace but that God would overlook and wink at us from the sidelines.
Daniel Emery Price
Daniel Emery Price
06/01/21

False Converts Are Not Your Concern

Here is someone to love; they’re not a Christian. They’re not very clean and don’t seem to care. Love them. Let your life become intertwined with theirs. Let it cost you something.
Peter Nafzger
Peter Nafzger
05/29/21

Gospel: Mark 3:20-35 (Pentecost 2: Series B)

Questions and opinions about Him varied, but one thing was certain, Jesus was causing a major commotion. He could not be ignored.
Jeffrey Pulse
Jeffrey Pulse
05/29/21

Old Testament: Genesis 3:8-15 (Pentecost 2: Series B)

This is the first direct promise of the Seed who will reunite all mankind to God by defeating Satan on the Cross.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
05/28/21

The Religion of the Sacred Cow

If you and I were to examine our own lives, we’d likely have to admit that we are frequent disciples of Jeroboam’s “bootleg religion.”
Kevin Hale
Kevin Hale
05/27/21

Mute and Muted Idols

The irony of our idolatry is that many of our idols could and would speak the gospel to us if we would listen.
Kyle G. Jones
Kyle G. Jones
05/24/21

The Holy Spirit: The Gift and Gift-Giver

The Holy Spirit is sent, not to talk about himself, but to point us to Jesus.
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
05/23/21

The Sermon as Linchpin

We have the Gospel in Word and the Gospel in Sacrament. Both are poised to declare the peace of the Lord, the good news of God’s forgiveness because of the life, vicarious atonement, and resurrection of Jesus the Son.
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