Michael J. Brooks

U.S. Minister to France, Benjamin Franklin, read the Old Testament book of Ruth to court patrons who delighted in this love story and were often surprised to discover it was from the Bible.

Rick Fisher met Henry Blackaby in 2006, and the “Experiencing God” author became a friend and mentor.

Somehow the Kyoto Tachibana SHS Band found me on Facebook, and it's been a good thing. This Japanese group plays beautiful music while making dance moves, and they're fun to watch.

“What's the most embarrassing thing you've said from the pulpit?” he asked.

“We must seek the ways of God in all we do, even when His ways seem not to make sense,"author Richard Blackaby told those gathered for a recent event at the Billy Graham Training Center in North Carolina.

It was territory I'd not seen before – the mountains of North Carolina. The mapping app took me via interstate the entire route to Asheville, but I decided I'd take my time on the way home and drive the backroads.

I enjoyed O.S. Hawkins' new biography of legendary pastor W.A. Criswell, a role model for my generation of pastors. Criswell served 50 years at First Baptist, Dallas, and was an itinerant preacher and an avid writer. Hawkins is remarkably honest about Criswell's successes and failures.

One of the ministry traditions I grew up with is that older ministers would often give us younger ministers a treasured book, either one from their libraries or a copy of one they found encouraging.

Pastors and music leaders have had good-natured arguments for years. Musicians insist pastors will be idle in heaven with nothing to do since preaching isn't on the agenda, whereas music is. And pastors retort that the music program is the source of much church conflict on earth. As radio preacher J. Vernon McGee used to say, “When Satan fell from heaven, he fell into the choir loft!”

Pastors and music leaders have had good-natured arguments for years. Musicians insist pastors will be idle in heaven with nothing to do since preaching isn’t on the agenda, whereas music is. And pastors retort that the music program is the source of much church conflict on earth. As radio preacher J. Vernon McGee used to say, “When Satan fell from heaven, he fell into the choir loft!”