tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-119498502026-01-01T14:44:17.456-05:00@ joelrainey.net.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.comBlogger391125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-35261148125836702472017-04-17T10:43:00.000-04:002017-04-17T10:43:45.717-04:00

"We want to reach our community!"  In 24 years of ministry, I've never served or consulted with a single congregation that didn't say this.  But for too many churches, they just weren't getting it done. For many years, church leaders have attended conferences, listened to church growth "experts," and copied strategies that were successful in other contexts in the hope that the result

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-76940251741290105762017-04-04T20:10:00.000-04:002017-04-04T20:10:40.770-04:00

Heresy has always threatened to corrupt the church.  From its earliest days when Marcion sought to add books to her Bible to the various prosperity gospel preachers and Jehovah's Witnesses that exist today, there are teachings that have damnable results. There are also erroneous beliefs that can cause misalignment of the church and her mission, and wise pastors will be on the lookout for

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-6977026244240871662017-03-23T09:54:00.000-04:002017-03-23T09:54:02.849-04:00

Leadership is, by default, a "team sport."  If you have no one to lead, how can you be a leader?  But having a group to lead doesn't necessarily mean you will lead them well, nor does it mean they will necessarily be a "great team." Over the years, I've often bragged publicly about the folks who have worked with me, and for me, and I have been truly blessed through most of my

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-86045907500686659062017-03-17T11:33:00.000-04:002017-03-17T11:35:19.450-04:00

As a pastor, I've had many unfortunate encounters with domestic violence and its consequences.  I've sat in my office across the table from a woman wearing sunglasses to hide the bruises.  I've tried to comfort children as their father was handcuffed and taken from their home for beating up mom.  In a few situations, the husband was escorted to jail as he simultaneously declared

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-19804649739780252842017-03-07T09:32:00.001-05:002017-03-07T09:37:29.334-05:00

"I've never met Islam.  I think Islam owes me $5.  But apparently Islam hates America, which is fascinating."  -Wajahat Ali "Islam is a diverse religion with many expressions, though unfortunately there is a demonstrable tendency among Muslims to assume only one legitimate interpretation of Islam"  -Nabeel Qureshi On March 23, I'll be participating in a panel discussion at

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-71961361240786958782017-02-20T15:12:00.001-05:002017-02-20T15:18:32.893-05:00

Next Friday, The Shack opens nationwide, prompting full theaters, plenty of box office profits, and apparently, a bunch of ticked off conservative pastors. I get it.  I really do. I read the book when it was first released back in 2007.  When I finished, I was simultaneously impressed and fearful.  I was impressed because it was truly a riveting novel that deals with real

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-76129513650453727702017-02-03T06:00:00.000-05:002017-02-03T06:00:00.643-05:00

"And the King will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me."  Jesus, Matthew 25:40 Over the past week, President Trump's Executive Order to indefinitely halt the Syrian Refugee program has caused quite a stir around the country.  "Fake News" on both sides of the political spectrum have added an annoying level of drama

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-35585915840682071322017-01-16T05:00:00.000-05:002017-01-16T05:00:23.001-05:00

A civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on an installment plan.  -Martin Luther King. Today, our nation honors a Baptist preacher who changed the world. But like so many other heroes we celebrate, we often sanitize their legacy, leaving out those parts of their story that traumatize us.  Every American loves a war hero, but no one

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-87947964698410202152017-01-12T09:11:00.002-05:002017-01-12T09:11:41.689-05:00

I walked out of a restaurant a few days ago sure of one thing:  the young lady who showed me to my seat and bid me farewell when I left was what we call a "short-timer."  I walked in to find no one to receive me and a waitress had to call this young lady over so she could begin to do what I assume the restaurant hired her to do.  And when I left, she was sitting down in the

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-78271995891826392952017-01-04T17:54:00.003-05:002017-01-04T17:58:23.917-05:00

Next week, I'll make my first visit of 2017 to my local gym.  I dread that visit. I don't dread it for the reasons you might think.  Actually, I've been faithful with daily exercise through the holidays (though I can't say the same for diet.  But who can at Christmas?)  I will pretty much hate going to the gym until around the end of March, because from now until then, the

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-77194346396519997892016-12-20T16:43:00.001-05:002016-12-20T16:49:04.288-05:00

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions."  Paul, 2 Timothy 4:3 As a young seminary student, every time I heard this passage expounded upon in a chapel service, it was nearly always applied to theological liberalism.  I was preparing for ministry during the

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-18611719856642619542016-12-05T11:19:00.002-05:002016-12-05T11:19:44.637-05:00

Our church family is currently in the midst of a series called "Hearing God Through the Holidays."  For those of you who joined us yesterday, I spoke about how depression and mental illness go into overdrive during the Christmas season, and we looked to God's Word in Psalm 42 to learn ways to cope, and hear the voice of our incarnate Savior above the depression. I hope you walked away

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-91653622948381718672016-11-21T05:00:00.000-05:002016-11-21T05:00:07.051-05:00

Yesterday, our church family observed "Orphan Sunday" two weeks late.  We didn't wait because the issue was unimportant.  We waited, not only to finish a prior series I had started on marriage, but also because we wanted to do this right. The more than 150 million orphans deserve at least that much. What does this crisis have to do with the church?  It would take a book rather

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-31368480043114626322016-11-07T05:00:00.000-05:002016-11-07T05:00:01.892-05:00

Since 1945, the age at which a boy becomes a man--a fully functional, responsible adult--has lengthened from 18 to 27.  From 1970 to 2000 the percentage of 30-year-old men who had taken a wife dropped from 85% to 33%.  They spend more on pornography each year than is spent on professional baseball, basketball and football combined.  On average, they spend three hours daily in

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-31335923647285970792016-10-31T15:13:00.001-04:002016-10-31T15:19:02.799-04:00

Tonight I will gather my kids--two of which will be dressed as a "Minecraft" character and a princess--and head for German Street--a quaint, wonderful stretch of our Shepherdstown, WV community.  Why?  Because this is the only night of the year in which it is culturally appropriate to allow your kids to beg strangers for unhealthy food.  For most in our culture, October 31 is

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-16165523238676094752016-10-31T05:00:00.000-04:002016-10-31T05:00:02.335-04:00

Yesterday, I spoke on a touchy subject. Actually, that's a colossal understatement.  I spoke on a subject that tends to get preachers picketed and protested.  And to evoke that kind of response, I don't even need to say anything myself.  I needed only to quote the passage we read together yesterday morning: "Likewise wives, be subject to your own husbands...." Yesterday, we

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-57919044779074797662016-10-24T05:00:00.000-04:002016-10-24T05:00:20.254-04:00

Add caption Yesterday, we began a brand new series called "A Marriage Made on Earth."  Over the past several decades as the divorce rate began to rise sharply, all manner of "marriage helper" tools have emerged in our culture.  Though all are well-intended, many perpetuate myths about the marriage relationship that are simply untrue. The Scriptures on the other hand paint a broad,

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-51548295982599098762016-10-10T05:00:00.001-04:002016-10-10T05:00:22.007-04:00

Growing Passionate Followers of Jesus Christ who serve all people. That's our mission statement at Covenant Church.  But as we move forward together, we need to ask ourselves a serious question: Are we really making disciples, or are we just enabling religious consumers?  Sometimes, the two look an awfully lot alike. I was visiting the church of a close friend a few years back,

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-11328648140379016052016-10-03T05:00:00.000-04:002016-10-03T05:00:25.754-04:00

"Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words." Those infamous words are attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, though there is zero evidence of his ever having spoken or written this, or anything like it. But even if he had, it would remain a stupid thing to say. Yesterday, we finished week three of a four-week series entitled "A Different Kind of Life."  The Scriptures

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-64212917279083969372016-09-26T09:59:00.001-04:002016-09-26T09:59:31.251-04:00

"Clinton-Trump Debate Expected to Be Rare Draw in a Polarized Age." That was the New York Times headline that led my news feed yesterday.  The article predicted the possibility of as many as 100 million viewers--20 million more than the 1980 debate between Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan that has thus far held the record for the most viewers.  83 percent of registered voters are

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-58985990121722062732016-09-26T05:00:00.000-04:002016-09-26T05:00:03.321-04:00

Picture a kitchen table. It doesn't have to be fancy or elaborate.  Four legs and a top.  That's all you need.  Some of the most life-changing, world-altering encounters and conversations have transpired around a simple table. The table is powerful. Yesterday, we continued our series "A Different Kind of Life" by talking about hospitality.  For many people, hospitality is

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-844529412229821902016-09-19T05:00:00.000-04:002016-09-19T05:00:08.741-04:00

Yesterday, we began a four-week series entitled "A Different Kind of Life."  If you have been a follower of Jesus for any significant length of time, or if you have been around a lot of people who follow Jesus, you have probably heard that Christians are supposed to be "different" from everybody else, and that's true.  Our Bible is full of passages calling us to a different sort of

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-73832558221836235112016-07-29T05:00:00.000-04:002016-07-29T05:00:18.719-04:00

22 years ago tomorrow, a beautiful, smart, winsome, godly young lady with obvious issues of blindness and bad character judgement had already said "I do" to a young 22-year-old knot-head named Joel.  If, at that moment, you had told either of us what God had in store for us over the next two decades, we would not have believed it! As you can tell from the pictures, we don't look the same

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-23863870870300291992016-07-11T12:59:00.000-04:002016-07-11T13:09:57.889-04:00

Yesterday, the elders of NewSpring Church, the 30,000 attendee, multi-site congregation in my home state, announced the release of Senior Pastor Perry Noble due to behaviors that disqualify him for pastoral ministry.  This announcement was understandably shocking, both to the evangelical world, and more so to the NewSpring church family. Some predictable responses to this sad news have

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11949850.post-22229410264856677472016-06-13T06:00:00.000-04:002016-06-13T06:00:08.190-04:00

Yet another summer is upon us, which means I'll be taking a break from this site for a few months.  But as always, I can't do that without commending the following reading list to you. 1. Surprise the World!  The Five Habits of Highly Missional People. (Michael Frost)  Michael has written another excellent resource that not only challenges thinking, but encourages doing.  

.http://www.blogger.com/profile/13856253694243784280noreply@blogger.com0