Articles By: Larry Shallenberger

Larry is a pastor and author hailing from Erie, PA. He's the author of "Divine Intention" and "Lead the Way God Made You" (which was recently translated into Korean). Larry is a husband and father of three boys. He's on the board of www.thementoringproject.org. He's currently working on his fourth book and just crossed the halfway point of the first draft. If you're an aquisitions editor, you should toss Larry an email at larry.shallenberger @ gmail.com to chat.

Jesus Christ: Anchor Baby

My son recently returned from band camp and recovered from his grueling work by catching up on the past week’s Daily Show and Colbert Report. Stewart and Colbert must have referred to the term “anchor baby” a half-dozen times in reference to the immigration debate in Arizona. “Anchor...

August 24th, 2010 | Essays | Read More

Rick Warren, Twitter, and the Testimony of Misfits

The Twitter-verse runs on speed and the rush to judgement. So when Rick Warren tweeted I challenge any church in America to match the spiritual maturity, godliness & commitment of any 500 members of Saddleback. Christian social media jockeys rushed to their chairs and pecked out their assessments....

August 17th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Meditations: The Problem with a “Just Tell Me What To Do” Approach to God’s Will

Several years ago a pastor asked me to coach him on some leadership issues. He was a brand new pastor and was having a hard time acclimating to the demands of the job. I remembered what a mess of a leader I was my rookie year, so I agreed to meet with him regularly. The meetings went okay for a while,...

August 8th, 2010 | Meditations | Read More

Using Christian Celebrities as Shibboleths

They said to him, “Say Shibboleth”, and he said “Sibboleth” because he could not pronounce it. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Edomites fell. “ Judges 12:6 I’m fascinated and a little saddened by a habit...

August 6th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Welcome Back, Jennifer Knapp

Back in the ’90s, about the time I was getting tired of Christian Contemporary Music, there were a few standout exceptions that were still able to grab my attention. One of them was an earnest folk rocker who could, in one moment, break your heart with a tender vocal phrasing, and in the next song,...

May 26th, 2010 | Featured, Music | Read More

Blindsided

I wasn’t sure I was going to watch the Oscar winning The Blind Side. I have nothing against Sandra Bullock. I know that she’s having a tough stretch. I just can’t understand a universe where a woman who made n career of flashing those gorgeous doe eyes in romantic comedies steals an...

April 27th, 2010 | Essays, Featured, Film | Read More

The Bishop on the Game Board

I was driving Nathan to an appointment yesterday. Along the way, we passed a Catholic church with a large sign in the yard thanking a local bishop for serving the parish. This confused Nathan. “What war did he serve in?” “Bishops don’t fight in wars, Nathan. They oversee priests.” “Then why...

April 20th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More

Church Buildings: Tombstones for Eden and Declarations of Future Hope

“But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the Father’s houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of...

April 11th, 2010 | Featured, Meditations | Read More

Meditations: Baptism by Beer

There are times that I read to engage. I will read a theology or praxis book to keep me sharp as a pastor. But there are also times that I read to escape. I’ll grab a novel, a memoir or history book so I can get my imagination as far away from the office as I can. This week I needed to disengage,...

March 28th, 2010 | Featured, Meditations | Read More

An Open Letter to the Grand Old Party, Part I

Dear G.O.P., You probably don’t know this but you and I haven’t been on speaking terms lately. The last Presidential Election rattled me hard. I had genuine interest in McCain until I realized that 2008 Candidate McCain had little in common with 2000 Candidate McCain. The stunt of suspending...

March 26th, 2010 | Essays, Featured | Read More