Lance Ford’s new book Revangelical: Becoming the Good News People We’re Meant to Be  helps to steer evangelicals towards a new way of thinking about how we are to exist in the world. It is certainly a book to read and reflected upon. Some years ago now I was part of a planning meeting that led to […]

My wife and I saw a wonderful play last night in Los Angeles: The Trip to Bountiful starring Cicely Tyson as Mrs. Carrie Watts. In one of the scenes, Mama Watts who loves to sing hymns begins to sing songs of comfort as she journeys back to her hometown of Bountiful.  She sings Blessed Assurance. […]

Prior to beginning my work as a professor and Associate Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Fuller, I was on the staff at Simi (Evangelical) Covenant Church in Simi Valley, California for 24 years.  I had the great joy of serving as senior pastor of that congregation for eighteen of those years. This […]

I served on the pastoral staff of Simi (Evangelical) Covenant Church in Simi Valley for 24 years. Eighteen of those years (1985-2003) as senior pastor. Simi Covenant is celebrating its 50th anniversary this weekend! Our church was planted when Simi Valley was a sleepy little town with no freeways, one stop light, and a population […]

I am reminded often of the tendency to turn Evangelicalism into a single story. People are deemed Evangelical, or Not an Evangelical based on one belief or conviction or association. Evangelicalism is broader than a single issue. The vibrancy of Evangelicalism has always been fueled by strong core convictions especially the centrality of Scripture, the […]