Spelling vs. Writing – A lesson for church leaders

Posted on July 12, 2017 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

Can we admit the fact that we like being the one who knows the answer? Can we admit that sometimes we respond with our primary motivation to be admired for our knowledge? After we repent of our pride, we can then seek to be used by God to assist others in drawing into deeper relationship with Jesus.

Why I write Attempts at Honesty

Posted on October 7, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 2 Comments

We have gotten a decent amount of traffic so it appears that people are getting something out of reading these posts. With new readers discovering the blog all the time, I felt that it was necessary to articulate some thoughts about why I keep up the blog and some items that are not reasons that I do it.

Thoughts on transformation inspired by John Donne

Divine Poem I by John Donne: Father of Heaven, and him, by whom It, and us for it, and all else, for us Thou madest, and govern’st ever, come And re-create mee, now growne ruinous: My heart is by dejection, clay, And by selfe-murder, red. From this red earth, Of Father, purge away All vicious […]

Inward vs. Outward Focus

Churches can have an inward focus (all about nurturing the members) and/or an outward focus (all about reaching those outside the church). It is my belief that in a healthy church, these two should both be present. I have been to churches that were so focused on body life that they became ingrown and unfriendly to outsiders. […]

Weird – Because normal isn’t working – Book Review

A Weird Contest Won One day I saw a tweet which announced a contest to win a new book called Weird. Since free is my favorite price and the title intrigued me, I decided to check it out. One of the ways to win a copy was to promise to write a review of […]

Quantity versus Quality

My guess is that most Christians would agree that reading Scripture is a good thing. The fact that the Bible is a perennial best seller lends credence to this.

But what is the best way to read it? Should I keep to a reading schedule or take a little bit at a time. Do I want to focus on the quantity or the quality of my reading?

On the Kindness of God

In the same way, we need to present God as the loving father who is waiting for all of us to turn to him. But our turning to him is initiated by our repentance. With proper understanding of the kindness and the holiness of God, repentance is the only reasonable response.

Where mercy and justice meet

God does not have to reconcile his justice with his mercy because there was a plan in place from eternity to provide a means of reconciliation that is both perfectly merciful and perfectly just. It is the Cross of Christ that makes this possible. It is at the Cross of Jesus Christ that justice and mercy meet and neither is compromised.