Pastor Chuck Smith frequently referred to Ephesians 4 as a transformative passage for his ministry. He’d served for seventeen years as a pastor in a denomination where pastors were urged to be evangel...  Read More

People come and people go. It’s a fact of church life. They come and go for a plethora of reasons. Some of those reasons are good, right, healthy; others, not so much. As a pastor it’s difficult seein...  Read More

The following are thoughts composed on the day after the Nice, France terrorist attack on Bastille Day, July 14th, 2016.It behooves us to resist the axiom spoken by George Santayana, “Those who cannot...  Read More

There is a truth–gem hiding away in the Mount of Transfiguration account about Peter, James, and John. The clue to this gem is found in the two ancient prophets that God sends to honor Jesus: Moses an...  Read More

A January, 2014 article in The American Conservative described why some Millennials are leaving Evangelical churches to join more liturgical denominations like Anglican, Orthodox and Roman Catholicism...  Read More

There’s a lot of talk in both the Evangelical church and increasingly in the secular business world about “servant leadership.” For many years at Calvary Chapel, Gayle Erwin has poignantly taught us t...  Read More

...Are Doomed to Repeat It.On Facebook recently, I’ve made a few comments about the parallels I see in the campaign of a certain Presidential candidate and the rise of Adolf Hitler in 1930’s Germany. ...  Read More

We have an ongoing debate in Christianity over how and when God created the earth and, especially, mankind. There are both “Old Earth” and “Young Earth” Christians – who love Jesus and believe the Bib...  Read More

I listen to podcasts. It’s a great way to maximize my time while doing other things like driving, working out, and chores around the house.While on a run recently, I was listening to the TED Talks pod...  Read More

When you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay to pay it; for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and it would be sin to you. Deuteronomy 23:21When you make a vow to God, d...  Read More

[This well-known and oft-told story well illustrates what can happen when a church loses its grip on the call to evangelism.]On a dangerous seacoast where shipwrecks often occur there was once a crude...  Read More

In John 10:10 Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”This is a good promise to ponder as we celebrate Christmas. Jesus came that we could have lif...  Read More

God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. • 2 Timothy 1:7Terrorism has become a fixture of the Modern World. Terrorists use it as a means to some political o...  Read More

“Fear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you. Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10Ten times in the Bible indiv...  Read More

You probably missed the news story a couple weeks ago in The Washington Times about the brouhaha that erupted between France and Iran. The two counties faced a diplomatic meltdown over a dispute regar...  Read More

It’s Friday, October 2, 2015. There was another school shooting yesterday. Again it’s on a college campus. Seems like a lot of these tragedies play out at our schools. But, you know how it is; sometim...  Read More

In Matthew 24:42–44, after speaking of the end times and the signs which herald His return, Jesus told His followers, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. . . . Therefo...  Read More

WATCH: Boehner ResignsIn Matthew 24:42–44, after speaking of the end times and the signs which herald His return, Jesus told His followers, “Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is...  Read More

I’m a Christian, not a Conservative.Let me explain.As it stands today, the label “Conservative” is primarily an ideological descriptor for a political position that stands in contrast to “Liberal.” Su...  Read More

Should a Christian attend a same-sex wedding?While the answer to this comes down to a simple “yes” or “no”, arriving there is fraught with complexity. It requires we attempt to think Biblically, rathe...  Read More

What follows is a brief (sort of) review of Daniel 9 as it relates to Luke 19 and the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. This is a follow-up to Pastor Lance’s message given on Sun...  Read More

During the War of 1813, the USS Constitution won 5 engagements with British warships. During one battle with the HMS Guerriere, when the cannonballs of a broadside bounced off the Constitution’s sides...  Read More

[Based on Philippians 2:5-7]I don’t understand.  It makes no sense. But then, His ways are often mysterious – even to us angels.For ages my assignment was to worship the Son.  I say “was” because all ...  Read More

In the Message/Study/Sermon given at Calvary Chapel Oxnard on Sunday November 20, 2014, I mentioned the, “four main camps about how to understand it” and that I would put up a blog post briefly summar...  Read More