Terry Pruitt's Blog

Last night I was in seminary class. Someone was giving an informal testimony and said something to the effect, "We need to look in the Bible to find solutions because it is an answer book." Looking at the Bible through the eyes of what I call suffering I find the Bible is not so much an answer book but a book to tell me who God is. He is my answer. That may sound a bit trite but I think it makes a lot of difference.

I re-read Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster for my Spiritual Formation class at Capital Bible Seminary . The first time I read it I think I was looking for something that was not there. This time I just read it to see what God might want me to change. It was refreshing the second time. I think Foster's strength in the book is that he translates for the evangelical community the historical writings on the topic of spiritual disciplines. Most people who are reading the book want to hear from God. Foster's membership with the Friends, that values the mystical side of Christianity, helps him to take seriously listening to the voice of God in prayer and meditation. Foster handles the subject with depth and gives an accessible introduction to the historic practices of the disciplines. In other words, people are hungry to hear the voice of God and are looking for reliable answers from someone with sounds experiences that ring true. Sometimes Foster justifie...

This summer I visited two churches but I have decided to not review them as I usually do. The reason is that I have some highly negative thoughts about these two churches. I thought about not saying anything but I do want to address the issues. The first church I visited this summer was a world famous mega-church. The music was great. The people warm. The worship environment was creative and cool. The problem I had with the worship though was the sermon. The pastor gave a sermon on 2 Kings 5:1-15a. The Scripture reading stopped at a high point with the words of Naaman saying, "“Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel." The reading stopped at this point, half way through the sentence which was great since it emphasized whole point of the passage. I was excited with the prospect of such a great sermon. Then we got a message on baptism. I realize there are only so many texts on baptism, but why take this passage with such a grand theme and ...