Skip to content

Practical Life

53 studies

When I visited Honduras in 2017, I had an M.Div. degree, years of ministry experience, and a position with a global nonp...

Faith

I walked slowly down the potluck tables, overloading my paper plate with rotisserie chicken, a green bean casserole, and...

Friendship

Every conversation at a national ministry conference in Washington, D.C. felt like it followed an unwritten script. "Hi,...

Following Jesus

The pastor asked if he could take me to lunch. I was eager to say yes. After the meal arrived, he asked me if my wife co...

Church Hurt

I was standing in the foyer of a massive megachurch, watching everyone else do what I couldn't figure out how to do. Eve...

Loneliness

I told myself I'd stop reading about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and get back to work, but that was at least an hour...

Anxiety & Worry

In April 2026, Bryan Johnson published his simplified daily routine for maximal health. It takes four hours and forty-si...

Purpose & Meaning

While visiting Chattanooga, I walked to the Walnut Street Bridge and found a plaque honoring Ed Johnson. I learned that...

Truth

I showed up at the building to collect my items and say goodbye, but a security guard met me outside the front door with...

Courage

In March 2007, I flew to the Bay Area for InterVarsity's Asian American Staff Conference. During the conference, they se...

Reconciliation

"I appreciate what you're doing, but I can't get involved. I hope you understand." I did understand. Our family had t...

Love

In 2012, Steven Furtick's book *Greater* debuted at an impressive #4 on the *New York Times* Advice Best Sellers List. B...

Discipleship

Who am I to question someone’s faith? It’s the kind of accusation that abusive leaders use to destabilize and control. E...

Discipleship

When I arrived for a weekend retreat with thirty up-and-coming leaders, the jockeying for position started immediately....

Faith

"For five months I've perceived you as being arrogant to me. So I've been praying for you every day and trying to start...

Faith

I showed up for RZIM's beloved Christmas party. We played fun games, received our Christmas bonuses, and heard that we w...

Surrender

After I finished my D.Min. at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, I had to reckon with what my Major Project had conclu...

Following Jesus

For ten years after college, I worked as a campus minister. So, my income depended on the sacrificial giving of others....

Anxiety & Worry

When a large foundation announced they planned to spend a billion dollars on advertisements about Jesus, I felt conflict...

Following Jesus

When I was dating, I thought God would deliver for me the way he had for my friends. I just needed to pray, ask her out,...

Faith

"I will have no right to participate in the reconstruction of Christian life in Germany after the war if I do not share...

Friendship

On December 3, 2017, Ravi Zacharias published a series of audacious lies in Christianity Today to avoid accountability f...

Church Hurt

My wife and I once made a small gift to a cause we cared about. It's been a few years, and we're still getting automated...

Generosity & Giving

Before I turned 30, I broke out with shingles. My body was telling me something my pride couldn't admit: I was doing too...

Rest

The hardest part of trusting God isn't the first step. It's the long walk after, before we know the outcome. For inst...

Courage

At the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta, I walked up to a lunch counter and put on headphones. Imme...

Surrender

"Why were your headquarters so nice?" asked my friend. I was puzzled. "What do you mean?" I thought to myself. "The mini...

Faith

We love John 3:16 because it feels safe. It's an inspirational thought printed on bumper stickers and In-N-Out cups. But...

Faith

I was talking with a friend who told me he keeps praying, "God, what do you want me to do with my life?" He said, "I'm s...

Following Jesus

One of the perks of working at RZIM was access to the Green Room. When we hosted packed events at our headquarters, it f...

Grace

I watched my friend Nabeel Qureshi captivate a room for an hour, telling story after story. Afterwards, I saw the line o...

Contentment

My employer had told me I needed to take a new role in the organization, and aptitude testing would determine my placeme...

Calling & Vocation

"I gave my car to the church." I didn't know what to make of it. She was a college student burdened by student loans. Sh...

Generosity & Giving

I have the degrees listed on my LinkedIn profile—the M.Div., the D.Min. I've led ministries at Ivy League universities a...

Doubt & Questions

I was twenty-four, running through a park near Waynoka Avenue in Memphis. Mile two, maybe three. The cold air burned my...

Community

I was on a global Skype call with RZIM's senior leaders and Ravi Zacharias himself—the famous apologist whose ministry w...

Courage

A fresh paper planner smells like anxiety. It's the feeling that if you can just organize the boxes right, you can final...

Anxiety & Worry

In the fall of 2003, I was sitting in a chair outside Emory's dining hall by myself. But suddenly, I felt surrounded by...

Discipleship
Hope

When I was in middle school, another student loved to torment me with cruel nicknames. The one that hurt the most? "Tubb...

Faith

We were expecting a fabulous meal at the ski lodge's steakhouse. High ceilings, mahogany leather chairs, elegantly dress...

Contentment

After I got married, I realized that I was not nearly as spiritually mature as I had believed. One night, I paced around...

Community

In February 1941, during the German bombing of London in World War II, James Welch of the British Broadcasting Corporati...

Following Jesus

"I just called everyone on my phone and told them about Jesus." I was stunned. I didn't even know she was a Christian...

Sharing Faith

After resigning from a ministry job as a whistleblower, I suddenly realized I was unemployed. We anticipated that our in...

Anxiety & Worry

At one of the lowest points in my life, I'd been hurting for so long that I didn't know if the pain would ever go away....

Hopelessness

A best-selling apologist called me to talk about Ravi. He agreed that Ravi was a liar, a bully, and a predator. Then he...

Courage

I was driving down a forgettable road in South Hamilton, MA. My creaky Ford Explorer screeched to a halt at a four-way s...

Hope

The story about Jesus flipping tables is awkward. It's used both to rationalize posting rage bait online and to attack J...

Justice

My wife and I kept arguing about where to send our kids to school. Eventually, I built a massive spreadsheet with eight...

Calling & Vocation

When Facebook first arrived at my college, I remember the rush to set up a profile so everyone could know who I was, wha...

Grace

As the starting gun cracked for the 2002 St. Jude Memphis Marathon, two of my closest friends and I jumped out at a 7:04...

Contentment

Looking for something we don't have?