In the home, God calls the father to be the coach. The dad's role is to set a winning game plan and ensure every family member knows how to live out their winning role. Learn how dads are to tend, turn, and train their children toward a life of Godliness.

It was 6:28 on a Friday evening. With my heart pounding rapidly, I heard the garage door finally open. I plastered a smile on my face, waiting patiently at our tiny kitchen table with two babies in highchairs. Within one minute of my hard-working hubby stepping through the door, I vehemently quipped a quick hello and lunged a plate of food in his direction. Then, silence. He knew he had stepped into an unwelcome home.

There is a song called, Made to Worship, and the lyrics in one portion sum up every ounce of grace that God has poured out on our lives.

The greatest threat to the church is not the blowing winds of culture from the outside, but false teachers who infiltrate from the inside. Those who look like sheep but are wolves. Those posing as shepherds but are charlatans. These false teachers will most certainly be conduits of cultural ideologies, while at the same time, spewing licentious lies and exploiting people with their greed.

Church leadership is at the center of New Testament teaching because the people of a congregation will rise only to the maturity of their leader. This was made clear when Jesus told Peter to, “Feed my sheep.” Sheep are by their nature, followers – Willing to follow a good shepherd into greener pastures and likewise willing to follow a poor shepherd into danger. Thus, the man who takes the mantle of shepherd becomes responsible for the children of God.

He sits in the counseling office, eyes down, a sheepish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. He’d only been married three years but already had one little guy crawling and a baby girl in diapers. He and his young wife were burning the midnight oil – cook, eat, clean, diaper, work, park, toys, repeat – and by ten o’clock each night, there was barely enough time to say a prayer and catch some sleep, hoping nobody was teething.

21st century America has seen a church planting revival. Church plants are popping up everywhere. I recently googled “Church Plant” in a well-known mid-level U.S. city, and twenty churches popped up within a 5-mile radius. There was a congregation named “Fresh Church” one block from “Radiant Church” who was just around the corner from “Destiny Church.”

It’s been impossible for me to miss the controversy that’s been brewing in Southern California between Governor Gavin Newsom and Sun Valley’s Grace Community Church as led by their pastor-teacher, John MacArthur.

This article needs minimal introduction. Social media is ablaze right now and has been for some time. Rage is on the rise, wars are fought using words as ammunition, and aggressive debate takes its toll on even the most upbeat human souls.

Small groups can be an incredible blessing, but they are not fail-proof. At times, churches “sell” small group involvement as the secret sauce to a thriving spiritual life; overflowing with friendships and community that fills hearts and saves marriages!

God has an ultimate agenda for His people that brings glory to His name and joy to their hearts. He doesn’t have to, but He most often uses human leaders to unravel His plans. Much like today, there were leaders throughout the Bible who used their positions of power to abuse and exploit people for their own gain. And, much like today, there were leaders throughout the Bible who used their position as for good.

Church leadership models always seem to be going through a type of cultural renovation. Trying to stay relevant, influential evangelicals try to innovate at every turn; trading in biblical roles like elder and deacon for newer, less biblically stringent leadership positions.

Trustworthy leadership is hard to find. Inside and outside Christianity, men and women with fancy letters behind their names are doing nasty things to innocent people – and children. It’s becoming more and more apparent that academic degrees (while important) and achievements (while admirable) are not the measure of success for a leader.

It was the great Puritan John Owen who said, “A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.” What John Owen had right almost 400 years ago still rings true today. Christian leadership is a public service that begins with private worship.