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Shepherding Thoughts
by Pastor Ben Francis
Welcome to Shepherding Thoughts: An inside look at a Southern Baptist Pastor's comments on navigating popular topics in Christianity and Religion.
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Giving Thanks for the Small, the Difficult, and the Sometimes Ugly.
The Discipline of Spiritual Gratitude It doesn’t take long to look around a Church or spiritual community and find problems. Whether it's...
Ben Francis
Nov 27, 20224 min read
A Glimpse of Life without Worry...
Wild things, Peace, and Wendell Berry “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.Day to day pours...
Ben Francis
Nov 23, 20224 min read
Lord, Thank You for this Sickness.
Learning to thank God for our afflictions… Throughout our lives, we all experience the normal pains, sufferings, and struggles of having...
Ben Francis
Nov 14, 20225 min read
Look at the Leaves: Autumn Reflections on the Goodness of God.
Autumn Reflections Autumn is my favorite season of the year, mostly because of the diverse canvas of colors that burst forth from the...
Ben Francis
Oct 30, 20224 min read
Help for Christian Parents.
Resources for Christian Parents Our church is currently studying through Ephesians, and this coming week we come to the passage on...
Ben Francis
Sep 20, 20222 min read
What are the Essentials of Christian Faithfulness?
Have ever wondered, “What does it really mean to be a Christian? Like, day-to-day? What does that look like?” I often fear that the...
Ben Francis
Aug 29, 20225 min read
Is My Life Too Busy?
Is my life too busy? Probably… Busy; busyness: The state of having or being involved in many activities I remember stepping off the plane...
Ben Francis
Aug 3, 20226 min read
Are We Raising Emotionally Healthy Kids?
Raising Emotionally Healthy Kids A Review Parents, are we raising emotionally healthy children? It's a tough question. It's tough because...
Ben Francis
Jul 24, 20225 min read
A Christian View of Dieting, Part 1
In this series of posts, I want to think through dieting and its implications, not only for our physical bodies, but for our spiritual...
Ben Francis
Jul 21, 20224 min read
Christians Should Judge each Other...Right?
“Only God can judge me!” That’s what the license tag said on the car parked in front of me. It's not an uncommon thing to hear in the...
Ben Francis
Jul 15, 20228 min read
The Pastor and the Dietitian...
Over the last year or so—as I have been reading and educating myself about food, diet, exercise, and the like— it occurs to me that...
Ben Francis
Jul 5, 20226 min read
What I'm Reading, June 2022
June has been a good month for a number of reasons, but it's been an especially good month in the book department. I’ve been thoroughly...
Ben Francis
Jun 23, 20223 min read
Are Hymns Important? Yes!
We are living in an age when music is doing all sorts of things. Churches are attempting and trying a number of musical variations in an...
Ben Francis
May 11, 20224 min read
In Praise of My Wife…
Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and while the holiday is man-made, the regular celebration of mothers is a good and right gift...
Ben Francis
May 6, 20223 min read
They're Teaching Kids What!? - Culture Shifts...
American culture is changing. In some ways, that is no great news. Culture is always changing and shifting to some degree. But right now,...
Ben Francis
Apr 18, 20226 min read
What I'm Reading These Days...
It will come as no surprise to anyone that I am a big fan of books. I love books. Books make up a big part of my life. I turn to them for...
Ben Francis
Apr 18, 20223 min read
The Commodification of Discipleship.
A building Crisis comes calling… Have you ever thought about how odd it is to walk into a grocery store? It is odd to walk into a store...
Ben Francis
Apr 3, 20227 min read
The Crooked Path of the Christian Life
“The Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction.” - Eugene Peterson. The Christian life is a long obedience…full of twists...
Ben Francis
Mar 28, 20225 min read
Is Our Discipleship in the Right Order?
Keeping the Horse and the Cart in the Right Place Discipleship: … How would you define it? Do you think most Church folks would know how...
Ben Francis
Mar 21, 20225 min read
The Evangelical Industrial Complex and the Fall of Discipleship.
What Happened to Discipleship? The Evangelical Industrial Complex — “Big Eva” - Big Evangelicalism. If someone were to ask you, “ What is...
Ben Francis
Mar 13, 20228 min read
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