Nick Sorenson's take on Living for Christ and Serving in the Church

Yet One of You is a Devil... If you observe church leadership long enough (not that long), you'll find that corruption and double lives are not uncommon. In fact, arrogance, immorality, and outright scam isn't a rarity with countless hugely successful ministries. Thanks (or no thanks) to the Internet, we find dozens of disgusting stories coming from just as many big (trusted) names, and that's all only from the past 5-10 years. How is it that God allows these, who are obviously ungodly, to hold places of leadership within the church? Look them up... or maybe don't! The stories coming from the lives of these men are shocking, and if we're not careful, even faith shaking. How can Jesus let them continue on in influence when He Who knows all, knows that their life doesn't match what's being preached (assuming they're still preaching the Word)? As we observe the stories we see in news headlines, this is an easy question to ask ourselves. Why can this g...

My 95 Theses Pertaining to the Modern Evangelical Church Ok, not 95 and no, I do not agree with many of Luther's beliefs. Where Luther and I would see eye to eye is in the (re)evaluation of something we'd grown up accepting, and to a certain extent swallowing hook line and sinker.   So let the discussion begin. I am sure there are more than 95 issues with the norms we've accepted as the church, but here are just a small number that I believe are at least questionable. Much like Luther's theses, what I will be implying here is that the church has evolved, and strayed as it has done so. And just as Luther tried to do with the Catholic church, let's, as he did, hold our own (existing) view of the church up to the authority of Scripture. After all, as Christians, the Bible, in its entirety, is our belief system. Have we shaped our views pertaining to church structure upon what we've read in Scripture or is it simply mirroring our current church cult ure (note the i...

The Essential Qualities of a New Testament Church This post is notes taken from an 1987 sermon given by the (at that time) future A.G. superintendent Dr. George O. Wood, and of course the Acts 2 text itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoDbhN1uTOk I find George to have been a humble man, with the Spirit of God in him. He held multiple degrees including a law degree, yet he never seemed to let it get to his head.  In this sermon, I believe he was on a mission to walk more closely with what we see in the Acts church. He is one of my all time favorite Assembly of God superintendents. He spoke in our chapel services at Evangel University in Springfield MO many times while my wife and I attended. It was always a moving time and not just by persuasive words but by the Spirit of God. On to his message (and I would highly encourage you to watch it for yourself at the YouTube link above).   Acts 2:38-47 Early Church Characteristics (13 Qualities of Unity): 1. Repentance 2. Baptism ...

  Family Integrated Church: I will not claim to grasp every factor that contributes to young people leaving the church, since undoubtedly there are several. What I will say for certain is that one major factor I see as a potential cause, is a lack of leadership by husbands and fathers. It’s common for the church, or its staff, to be expected to fill in for this absence. Sometimes the absence is due to a broken family, but just as often it stems from spiritual apathy in men. I’m not sure why this apathy is common (I have some guesses on that in a later paragraph), but it is possible that, at least in part, the man doesn’t lead because he feels that the responsibility is already covered by the church. I feel that there is a place for the church to supply this spiritual leadership, normally supplied by the man as the leader of his house. However, I feel this should be the exception rather than the norm. Sunday school was originally instituted and intended for situation...