The Bible in 30 Words
God made, Adam ate, Noah arked, Egypt plaqued, Water parted, Law gave, Saul freaked, David peeked, Kingdom divided, Messiah came, Sacrifice made, Christ arose, And Jesus is on the way!
Continue reading →Steve Durkac
George Carlin?
While working with Hurricane Katrina victims, as a hospital chaplain, I was struck by the quick turn-around one patient took, when he suddenly found something to laugh about. He lost everything he owned, including his house, his pets, and his brand new 5-day old F150 Ford pick-up truck. His adult children and his wife were safe, but like most Mississippi … Continue reading →
Salvation Over I-75
Pastor Steve Durkac’s Personal Testimony… I grew up as one of five adopted children and it was my story of adoption that most influenced my faith in Jesus as my personal Savior and here is how… As a teenager in the cold snowy, over-cast, small Northeast Ohio town of Rossford, during the heavy metal punk-rock era of the late 70’s, … Continue reading →
Why “No Pastor” in House Church?
I consider myself an advocate of house churches, but I have long been perplexed by books, blog posts, and statements that claim an identifying mark of a house church is having “no pastor” or no leader. Usually the flip side of that coin is often explained as “the priesthood of all believers” and everyone in the house church is involved. … Continue reading →
Professional Pastor?
I read an account from a church pastor who recently had some work done at his home by an electrician. The electrician asked him, as the homeowner, “What do you do for a living?” To which he replied, “I am a church pastor.” The electrician, while still working with the wires in the man’s ceiling said, “So you are a … Continue reading →
CSB, ESV, and Translations
I am going back to using my English Standard Version. Last August I bought a Christian Standard Bible and really liked it and I still do, but in recent months my enthusiasm for this new translation has developed into reservation. An odd thing about me is that I like to have one Bible that I stick to for personal reading, … Continue reading →
A Sailboat
When I left my pastorate with a church an Adventist church in Aiken, South Carolina in the 90’s, I was given a small gift of a marble and gold metal sailboat that read “A man that walks with God always gets to his destination.” It sat in my study on a shelf, from move to move, about 10 inches long … Continue reading →
Ministers: 3rd Tier Rowers
While we were looking at the 4th chapter of 1 Corinthians, I pointed out that Paul’s understanding of a minister was very different than today’s “executive” or “celebrity” image often assigned to today’s pastors. 1 Corinthians 4:1 gives us the glimpse of ministry being likened unto a 3rd tier rower of a slave ship, something that James pointed out was … Continue reading →
Links to Simple Church
Want to do some more exploring about how others are doing simple church? Let me suggest a couple online visits you can make to explore the concept of house church ministry. The sites I’ve listed below do not imply an endorsement, but they do give some clarity to today’s house church movement. • YouTube video: “What is Simple Church?” • Ed Stetzer … Continue reading →
Smaller is Bigger
Mega churches are great when it comes to outreach, but drawing a crowd isn’t what a pastor is called to do. Smaller gatherings is where disciples are made and souls are brought to Christ. Any executive can lead a mega church, but only a pastor can lead a small gathering of souls. Hundreds in our world are really wanting to … Continue reading →
Starting A House Church
A house church is not a one-size-fits-all or a cookie-cutter singular approach, but rather a zero-budget mission that is developed organically according to God’s leading and your calling. First, start with a call upon your heart. God uses pastors in His ministry and house churches that are led by pastoral care leaders are certainly following the biblical example that best … Continue reading →
Being the Church
The word church comes from the Greek word ekklesia which is defined as “an assembly” or “called-out ones” so according to the Bible, the church is the body of Christ—all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Our society has benefited from the traditional brick and mortar church building as a beacon of light in its presence and mission. However, … Continue reading →
Prayer Therapy: How to Pray for Problems
In 1994 I had assumed the pastorate of a church where I had the opportunity to sit down with the outgoing pastor to discuss various issues of that congregation. As I was sitting with him in his office talking, he handed me his keys and said, “Oh, I almost forgot, each Wednesday at 11:00 AM you have a counseling session, … Continue reading →
Jesus is God
Many years ago a sincere church member once asked me, Is Jesus really God? They went on to explain that they see where the Bible says Jesus prayed to God the Father, was called the Son of God, and they even pointed to the account of Jesus saying he didn’t know when he was coming back, only God knew that. Well, … Continue reading →
In Jesus’ Name
We commonly conclude our prayers by saying “In Jesus’ Name” and rightly so. When you say, “Lord, in the name of Jesus I pray, Amen” you are sharing in His power by claiming His character, life, atonement, and righteousness – not yours! When you say, “In Jesus’ Name,” you are saying… “Lord, I am asking you to answer and fulfill … Continue reading →
San Antonio, Texas
I am happy to be back in Mobile today after being in San Antonio, Texas this week. Memorial Service… The memorial service for Frank Wehrly went well and it was well attended as we celebrated and honored his life and family. Frank had fought lung cancer for 9 years until he passed last week just a week beyond his … Continue reading →
Avoiding Malice in the National Conversation
There is a lot of chaos in our society and it is an intentional strategy of Satan, because we know from John 10:10 that he “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (ESV) and Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that we “wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against … Continue reading →
Forsake Anger
Satan is happy to incite anger among all that will yield to it, because anger can quickly and easily be inflamed into his mission “to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10). But I say to you, forsake anger so you become part of Jesus’ mission of “have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). Now I realize we are human and society’s … Continue reading →
Light Shows at Church?
Lately, my social media feed has been full with video clips of live church worship music and something has struck me as an oddity regarding these numerous church worship programs — light shows. I’ve noticed that there appears to be a trend for light shows as part of the worship music and I’ve noticed this on video clips of both … Continue reading →
American Church
Here is another video clip from Francis Chan on “How to hear from God” where he deals with comparison between the American Church and Jesus, with a godly balance speaking the truth in love. There are many speaking against the modern institutional church without love, which is why I so appreciate Francis Chan addressing these issues. This is a good … Continue reading →
When We Sin
We had a conversation Sunday during our study of James about what to do when we have sinned, and I want to share those Bible promises that I referenced again here. First, I mentioned a verse that I couldn’t locate right away, but the verse is Jeremiah 17:9 and it says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: … Continue reading →
Small Church Uniqueness
It’s not often I copy and paste from another’s blog but I can’t say it any better and I want to share these thoughts with our CrossHope Chapel fellowship and those considering God’s calling to a simple church ministry. The below words are from a January 29, 2015 post by Ben Gosden, Senior Pastor of Trinity United Methodist Church in … Continue reading →
Self-Control or Gun Control
The solution to unprovoked firearm violence in our society is not gun control, but self-control. Galatians 5:23 tells us that self-control is the result of the indwelling Spirit of God in one’s life, and without the Holy Spirit there is no control over one’s unbridled sinful behavior. The angry expressions of violence are easily acted upon when the Holy Spirit … Continue reading →
Tree of Life?
Q: So when we get into heaven, will we have to literally eat of the tree of life to keep living forever, or is the tree of life a metaphorical object meaning we already have eternal life? A: In Genesis 2:9 and Genesis 3:22 we see that the tree of life seems to offer Adam and Eve a perpetual sustenance … Continue reading →
Who is the Anti-Christ?
Last Sunday at CrossHope Chapel we spent a little more time on 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 and the subject of “the man of lawlessness” and who this man could be. I shared a thought I had, but I couldn’t recall if it was from the book of Daniel or a commentator, but the thought I shared was that there is a … Continue reading →
Continue reading →Pastoral Calling
I am an advocate of doing church simply and a believer in the God ordained pastoral calling. However, I realize that there are voices in organic, simple, house church movements who reject the roles or at least the position of a “pastor” as belonging to institutional church. (I spoke to my concern of pastoral clergy criticism in my blog post “Critics of … Continue reading →
Critics of Church Styles
Several years ago I left traditional institutional denominational church pastoral ministry and received a lot of criticism from my colleagues on planting a house/organic church fellowship. Criticism from my fellow traditional ministers didn’t surprise me as much as the criticism I received from other organic church advocates, including random unexpected emails and even letters chastising me and trying to correct … Continue reading →
Organic Pastor?
Somewhere along the line of my journey with CrossHope Chapel, it occurred to me that my calling in this mission was one of an “organic pastor” in philosophy, approach, and ministry. I want to give you a definition for the term “organic pastor” which is a term that I like to use when talking about those called of God to pastoral … Continue reading →
79 Years Later
Yesterday, May 23, 2017 would have been my birth mother’s 79th birthday, had she not died in 1990. I was thinking earlier today that when I get to heaven I will have two mothers – the mother that adopted me and the mother that birthed me. Interestingly, the mom who raised me is named Irene and the mom who birthed me … Continue reading →
Observations for SDA’s
I have been out of the Seventh-day Adventist church almost as long as I was in the Seventh-day Adventist church. Since I have been among and ministering within non-Adventist churches, I have observed some things that I have always thought would be worth sharing with my Adventist friends. These are observations that I wish were shared with me when I … Continue reading →
My Baby Feet
I finally got my baby feet. What I mean is, I just received the card stock paper where the nurses at St. John’s Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota inked my feet, shortly after being born on October 1, 1962 and made an impression of my baby feet with ink. As I looked at the paper with the impression of my new … Continue reading →
3 Scriptures for Adoptees
I am an adoptee, and you can read my personal testimony to learn how that impacted my conversion and sustaining faith in Jesus Christ and His word. Here I wish to share 3 Scripture verses that I believe speak to the real significance of every individual who may be wrestling with their identity because of being an adopted child. Jeremiah … Continue reading →