Category Archives: 2014 Top Posts

Last night Norma Jean and I watched the events unfold in Ferguson, Missouri.   We live on the other side of the state, 237 miles away, but it seemed like it was happening in our back yard.

Following three months of hearing witnesses and evaluating evidence, Prosecutor Bob McCullough announced the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown. 

Yesterday we received a call from our daughter in Florida, Rachél Thompson, regarding her husband, Jared. He  was just diagnosed with Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma.

Jared recently had a tonsillectomy.  They both, as well as the doctor, had a feeling there was more to this than a normal surgery. A biopsy was performed from the tonsils and they received the results yesterday. 

In a shocking speech that is reverberating across the world, Pope Francis made this declaration in the third Vatican council.

“Through humility, soul searching, and prayerful contemplation we have gained a new understanding of certain dogmas. The church no longer believes in a literal hell where people suffer.

The much-anticipated movie “Noah” debuted this past week-end. The film was a #1 box-office hit, raking in $44 million. Director Darren Aronofsky, an avowed atheist, created controversy by saying his film was   “the least biblical, biblical movie ever made.”

Reaction has been mixed, both among critics and Christians. 

“The moments of happiness we enjoy take us by surprise,” once wrote British anthropologist and author Ashley Montagu. “It is not that we seize them, but that they seize us.”

Well, our family recently enjoyed one of those moments that seriously seized us! It was a happy surprise that I would like to share with our readers. 

“I recently became gay affirming after a 15-year journey,” said Danny Cortez, a preacher for the New Heart Community Church in La Mirada, California.

In a letter to blogger John Shore, founder of “Unfundamentalist Christians,” Cortez said he “realized I no longer believed in the traditional teachings regarding homosexuality.” The Baptist trained preacher said after reading many of Shore’s posts his “eyes became open to the injustice that the church had wrought.”

During my self-imposed holiday hiatus ThePreachersWord missed out on the whole Duck Dynasty flap!

While I was away, Duck Commander, Phil Robertson, was put on suspension by the A & E network for his comments in GQ magazine regarding homosexuality.  Every news show, talk show, cable TV host, call in radio show and about anyone involved in media opined on Robertson.   Duck Dynasty.  Free speech.  Freedom of religion.  And homosexuality.  

The subject line, with the above title, in my email inbox begged to be opened. No, it actually it screamed!   “Open this email”

I wondered if I was guilty of neglecting three words that could improve my preaching. After all, it was a newsletter I receive weekly from “Better preaching.”

When I opened it and read the first two sentences, I had to chuckle. What were the three words?

(We are reposted the top posts of 2014 in terms of reader “hits.”  This one came in at #9)

One Sunday a preacher took to the pulpit two jars and sat them on a table. They looked identical.  “These jars,” he told the congregation, “came from the same factory.  They were made of the same materials.  And they hold the same amount of liquid.  But they are different.”