Mike Pettengill

Mar 22, 2023 | thegospelcoalition.org | Rutledge Etheridge III |Mike Pettengill |Will Anderson |Catherine Allison

So often, Christians overwhelmed by sexual sin are practically shoved down the aisle by their church communities. Pastors may tell couples that once they’re bound within a biblically legitimate marriage relationship, sexual activity has Scripture’s seal of approval, and they can work together on whatever besetting sexual sins they bring to their union. But as the newlyweds soon discover, marriage tends to amplify, not alleviate, besetting sin.

Mar 22, 2023 | thegospelcoalition.org | Fernie Cosgrove |Mike Pettengill |Will Anderson |Catherine Allison

As I finished my lecture one day, I noticed the ache on a student’s face and asked her to stay after class to talk. Her eyes welled with tears—it had been a difficult year. She told me she’d entered the social work program with a fervent desire to follow Jesus’s commands to visit the prisoner, serve the poor and outcast, and care for the orphan and widow (James 1:27).

Mar 21, 2023 | thegospelcoalition.org | Karsten Harrison |Mike Pettengill |Tim Keller |Will Anderson

In The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer comments on his generation: “Secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies.” Tozer’s assessment is timeless and true of my generation too—Generation Z. Gen Z is disenchanted with and disconnected from the local church, uninterested in religion and Christianity especially. Many of us are walking around like spiritual zombies.

Mar 20, 2023 | thegospelcoalition.org | Matthew Bennett |Mike Pettengill |Tim Keller |Trevin Wax

Have you ever returned to a familiar place only to find it different than you recall? That happened when I came back to my childhood home to help my family prepare it for sale. I walked through each room, enjoying recalling a host of memories from my childhood. But as I tried to look at the space through the eyes of a potential buyer—one lacking the endearment prompted by nostalgia—I saw things differently. Undesirable characteristics I’d always overlooked became obvious.

Mar 20, 2023 | thegospelcoalition.org | Obbie Todd |Mike Pettengill |Tim Keller |Trevin Wax

In a family of pastors, Charles Beecher (1815–1900) was the black sheep. Stubborn and quick-witted, he was remarkably like his father, Lyman Beecher, one of the most famous preachers of the Second Great Awakening. However, much to his father’s disappointment, Charles was not interested in preaching. His love was music, not ministry. Nor was Charles interested in Calvinism, or at least his father’s version of it.