Many parents are brokenhearted and completely baffled by their unbelieving son or daughter. They have no clue why the child they raised well is making such awful, destructive decisions. I’ve never been one of these parents, but I have been one of these sons. Reflecting back on that experience, I offer these suggestions to help you reach out to your wayward child.

In summary:

1. Point them to Christ.
2. Pray.
3. Acknowledge that something is wrong.
4. Don’t expect them to be Christ-like.
5. Welcome them home.
6. Plead with them more than you rebuke them.
7. Connect them to believers who have better access to them.
8. Respect their friends.
9. Email them.
10. Take them to lunc…

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One of the greatest preachers of the 20th century was Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of Westminster Chapel, London for 29 years until his retirement in 1968. He died March 1, 1981. But his writing and preaching continue.

There is very little great preaching today. Most of us are too bent on being good communicators to be good preachers. We are too clever and too funny. Where is the preacher today whom most hearers would put into this category:

We are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not,…

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The "Holi Baibul" is now completely translated into Kriol, a language spoken by 30,000 Australians. This is the first complete translation of the Bible into an indigenous Australian tongue.

According to "The Religion Report" from ABC Radio National, there are about 51,000 speakers of indigenous languages in Australia, so this translation means that 6 out of 10 of these speakers can now read the Bible in their own language. Although, Margaret Micken, the project coordinator, points out, "Maybe they won't all be able to read it first up because the spelling system reflects the traditional way that people have written and been writing Aboriginal languages, but if they read English, they'll…

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If you can’t walk, even with crutches, and you don’t have a wheelchair, will you stay home? Or will you find some way—any way—to get to the market and to church? How will you move without a chair?

In Cameroon, when our short-term team saw people arriving at our work sites to receive a wheelchair in the name of Jesus, we had a glimpse of what people are willing to endure in order to be mobile. Some—even adults—were carried by family members or friends. Some crawled on hands and knees. Some sat on the ground with legs pretzel-folded and used their arms as crutches. Some lay straight on the ground and dragged themselves forward in a sort of army crawl. Some moved with hands and feet on the…

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Karen Watson wrote her own epitaph. Its message has stirred me up to pray for more radical devotion to Christ. She has not died in vain. She was a Southern Baptist missionary to Iraq and was killed by unknown assailants March 15, 2004. I am mentioning it now simply because I was reading the book Lives Given, Not Taken: 21st Century Southern Baptist Martyrs, by Erich Bridges and Jerry Rankin. In it I ran across the letter that Karen wrote and left behind in an envelope that said "Open in case of death." It said in part:

Dear Pastor Phil and Pastor Roger,

You should only be opening this in the event of death.

When God calls there are no regrets. I tried to share my heart with you as much

…

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Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote the opinion of the Supreme Court in upholding the ban on partial birth abortions on April 18, 2007. It is astonishing to read the opinion (Docket 05-380). The detail with which abortion is discussed exceeded my expectation. Kennedy’s own descriptions of the various forms of abortion are explicit and extensive. Descriptions of the procedure of partial birth abortion (“intact dilation and extraction”) are given from both doctors’ and nurses’ perspectives.

Read the whole article.

The specific, nitty-gritty, sometimes disgusting, sometimes beautiful things that God has done really matter. We're saved by faith alone, but faith needs facts. We need to believe in something particular and concrete.

After Joshua and all his contemporaries died, we are told that "there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord" (Judges 2:10-11).

They didn't know God, and this led them into sin. They didn't know God because they hadn't learned about the things he had done for them in the past. Their parents neglected to tell them the stories.

They didn…

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Recently a good friend shared with me these verses that he and his wife have prayed for their two daughters (now teens) since they were babies. I find them very helpful and have included them in my prayer folder for my children. I thought I’d pass them along to you as well. (Thanks, Chris!)

That Jesus will call them and no one will hinder them from coming.

Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away. (Matthew 19:13-15)

That they will re…

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Some of you may know Charlie Handren as the guy in charge of the prayer ministry at several past DG conferences. He is also Bethlehem Baptist's Church Planting Resident and will be going out to start a new church in a few months. He preached this weekend while Piper is in Portland.

His sermon was on John 15:1-11. One of his points was that the word "ask" in the phrase "ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" implies fervency. To put this passion for prayer in practice, he led his small group (the nucleus of the new church) on a 40 day fast from February 27 to April 7. Each day he blogged a short devotional on this passage in John and concluded each post with suggestions of w…

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I read an article a few days ago about the bleaker side of "Christian" fundraising--fake handwriting, ghostwriting, and all sorts of other manipulation (HT: SI). If I were on the outside of Christian ministry, I would be skeptical of it all, so I wanted to just make a few simple promises about DG's fundraising.

Here are some quotes from the article and how we would respond here at DG.

The fact is, the “personal” ministry letter you receive each month was probably not written by the ministry leader at all, but by a direct mail strategist, and designed by a graphic designer for maximum response.

There is no ghostwriting at Desiring God. If a person's name is on a …

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