Do You Know the Story?

Do You Know the Story?

By Steven Norris      It is very hard to read and accurately understand the Bible when you already “know” what it says. As a pastor, I find that the hardest passages to preach are often the ones that most people in my congregation have heard numerous times.      We...
Clearing the Dross

Clearing the Dross

By Steven Norris      Last week, I wrote about the image of God as a refiner’s fire in the writings of Malachi. Following that column, the Spirit led a reader to ask how to “get rid of the dross.”      In metalworking, raw ore is smelted — heated beyond the melting...
Clearing Out the Junk

Clearing Out the Junk

By Steven Norris      Hotdog was a periodic visitor at our church in North Carolina. I am not talking about the food you grill out, either. “Hotdog” was the moniker of an individual who had visited our church building back when it was a honky-tonk bar. I am not sure...

Getting to Know the Caregivers Clothes Closet Ministry

Early one weekday morning, an elderly gentleman named Willy was pushing his shopping cart past the First Baptist Church Ministry Center on Poplar. He made his way behind the building as he had on other occasions, and he found a friend there, busy with her work in the...