My Interview on YouTube

Barry Phillips, a long-time friend of mine, interviewed me for his YouTube channel, "Not Finished Yet." Apparently, it will also be made available on his Podcast (of the same name) in a few days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVofodX7ay8

The Art of Pastoral Care— a Decade Later

10 years ago, my wife and I co-wrote The Art of Pastoral Care. 17 years ago we had set up Bukal Life Ministries, which became Bukal Life Care & Counseling Center. We were training clinical chaplains and pastoral counselors in Baguio City, Philippines. Up to that point, our training materials tended to be a mishmash …

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Using Other “Spiritual Writings” than the Holy Bible in Ministry

I was teaching a class in a small Bible School. This school is in a small country in Africa where Christianity is a minority religion. A couple of students brought up interesting questions that I did not realize were related. One of the questions was about doing missionary work in reaching out to Mormons (or …

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Book Review: “Drinking Coffee with Some Contemporary Filipino Evangelical Theologians” by Francis Jr S. Samdao

<Full disclosure first of all. I had absolutely no involvement in the production of this book. HOWEVER, I am the "editor-in-chief" of PBTS-Press, and Samdao's work is the first book published under this imprint. As such, I am reviewing a book that I have some indirect involvement in.> Francis Samdao's book "Drinking Coffee with Some …

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A Couple of Book Recommendations

While I am SLOWLY working on my new book "Slow Missions" (obviously I am practicing what I preach), there are a couple of other books that I had a MUCH SMALLER role in that I would like to promote: DRINKING COFFEE WITH SOME CONTEMPORARY EVANGELICAL FILIPINO THEOLOGIANS. by Francis Jr. S. Samdao. This book is …

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Can There Be a Turing Test for Theology?

I was watching a video on the Youtube Channel, "Gospel Simplicity," where the question "Is ChatGPT a Theologian?" was addressed. There was some good talk about that with two major points. Real theology comes from a place of (1) faith, and (2) faith community. Theological reflection without faith is simply Biblical Studies or Religious Studies. …

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Were There Evangelists in the Early Church?

So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ. -Ephesians 4:11-13 This …

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2026 Writing Tasks

I know some are into New Years Resolutions. As far as I can recall, I have never done this. I think I am more open to the idea of year "theming." I have done this before and found it had some merit. This year, my focus is more on Missions writing. As a missions professor, …

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The Finality of Christ (1969). A Book Review of Sorts

"The Finality of Christ" is a book written by Lesslie Newbigin in 1969. It was published by SCM in England, and John Knox in the United States. The author is actually listed as Lesslie Newbigin: Bishop of Madras, pointing to his role as an Anglican bishop in India at the time. In a sense, the …

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“Are There Few That Be Saved?” Quote of Lesslie Newbigin

"The question: are there few that be saved? is one that Jesus declined to answer. It is a question which seems to fascinate many Christian minds today. There are, on the one hand, those who seem anxious to keep the doors of hell wide open so that there may not be any lack of funds …

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