Ministry Mark Fugitt Ministry Mark Fugitt

The Meaning of Green Pastures

They relied on God as the chief supplier of their needs, the one who fueled them to move forward. They were [literally] dying as part of the supply chain in God’s battle for truth. They saw this line about pastures as closely connected to the adjacent promise they would lack nothing. They were soldiers in the army of the King, not residents at his retreat center. Their life experiences provided a certain filter for the words of Psalm 23.

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Academic, Ministry Mark Fugitt Academic, Ministry Mark Fugitt

Rinse, Repeat: Should Believers Be Dunked Again?

For those struggling to feel closer to God, another baptism may not be the solution you are searching for. But it is good that you are searching. God promises that he is not hard to find for those willing to look.

When I watch others enter the baptistry, I can appreciate that I am already on the other side. Much like the Lord’s Supper, the corporate ordinance of baptism is another act done in remembrance of Christ.

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Ministry Mark Fugitt Ministry Mark Fugitt

THE OLD REDEMPTION STORY: ILLUSTRATIONS FROM THE BOOK OF RUTH

The book of Ruth begins in brokenness. The time of the Judges had seen people go from obedient and devoted followers of God to fickle and nameless wanderers who came to Him temporarily in their times of greatest distress. The first chapter records how one family even leaves God’s “Promised Land” to seek life elsewhere. The book of Ruth is short but deep. We see suffering, but we see restoration. The hope of the Gospel is very much alive even centuries before the arrival of the Messiah.

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Ministry Mark Fugitt Ministry Mark Fugitt

Pastors in the Valley of Death Row

Death already takes a major toll on faith leaders. Where the average layperson deals with the grief of a lost loved one once every few years, the faith leader may walk through this process multiple times in a single month. One of the traits of a good faith leader is to learn how to deeply love all those under one’s care—including the guilty and hard to love. The depression that can come from losing so many of one’s parishioners is very real.

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Ministry Mark Fugitt Ministry Mark Fugitt

ANTS, AUGUSTINE, AND PREPARING FOR SPIRITUAL WINTER

The ongoing heath crisis and cultural and legal events have sent many Christians into confusion and chaos. It has challenged and exposed my deeply rooted problems in American Christianity. Many are choosing to lash out in anger. Others turn to fear. While others double down on politics as their last hope to maintain life as they know it.

However, Augustine (354-430) has some great wisdom on Proverbs chapter 6 that turns the familiar passage used to prod lazy Jamestownians and Pilgrims off their 17th-century log couches into a ballad of spiritual preparation.

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