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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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Fast Discipleship is Not always Good Discipleship
More reflections from Wendell Berry We live in a microwave economy. You know what I mean — we live in an economy where we can have pretty...
Ben Francis
Feb 27, 20227 min read
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Farming for Healthy Families.
Discipleship is Household Work. A Mountain Morning. I greatly enjoy the writings of Wendell Berry, particularly his essays on farming,...
Ben Francis
Feb 26, 20225 min read
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How does Discipleship Happen?
I hear the question a lot. “I want to grow in my faith. I want to know the Bible better. I want to pray better. I want to be a better...
Ben Francis
Feb 17, 20225 min read
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The Slow Trod of Christian Discipleship
“The Christian life is a long obedience in the same direction.” -Eugene Peterson I can recall many people that have come in and out of...
Ben Francis
Feb 15, 20226 min read
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Is Your Marriage Romantic?
A Romantic Marriage Do you have a romantic marriage? Do you desire a romantic marriage? What does that mean? What ideas come to mind when...
Ben Francis
Feb 9, 20228 min read
226 views
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Do I Really Need Theology?
The Spiritual Discipline of doing Theology Well I’ve heard it said before that the average church-goer is not interested in theology....
Ben Francis
Feb 8, 20225 min read
70 views
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What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
A Good News Message The Gospel is the good news that the eternal Son of God, Jesus Christ, has come in human form, lived a sinless life,...
Ben Francis
Feb 3, 20225 min read
127 views
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A Tragedy of Silence: Why the United States Ought not Participate in the 2022 Winter Olympics.
With the 2022 Winter Olympics set to begin in China in just a few days time, there is a deafening silence about one of the worst of human...
Ben Francis
Jan 22, 20223 min read
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An Old Word for a New Year
Listen to Moses’ words from Psalm 90:11-12 “Who considers the power of Your anger [O Lord], and Your wrath according to the fear of You?...
Ben Francis
Jan 1, 20223 min read
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Should Christians Care About Physical Health?
The Western world in which I live is torn between two opposing realities: One reality is the overwhelming abundance of food. Food is...
Ben Francis
Dec 31, 20215 min read
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A Year of Health
This past fall, I wrote a post outlining my struggles with food. You can read it here in case you missed it. A new year always brings...
Ben Francis
Dec 27, 20213 min read
126 views
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The False Promises of Vacation…
Let’s go camping! It sounded like a great idea. It always sounds like a great idea when we’re several months away from the event. It was...
Ben Francis
Nov 18, 20215 min read
358 views
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Do My Facebook Posts Matter?
Civility as Gospel Witness “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love...
Ben Francis
Nov 8, 20215 min read
178 views
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My Struggles with Food…
A personal journey of stewardship. We all have personal struggles that plague us. Often, it's multiple things that plague us. For me, one...
Ben Francis
Nov 2, 20216 min read
468 views
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Which Bible Translation Should I Use?
In this post, I want to briefly discuss some of the various English Bible translations available to us today, the differences between...
Ben Francis
Oct 1, 20213 min read
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On Being Broken…
There are two contradictory realities that exist in our lives, and in the lives of most everyone we know. Reality #1: I am a broken and...
Ben Francis
Sep 23, 20215 min read
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What If We Took it Seriously?
It's an interesting question. It implies that we might not take “it” seriously. And we could fit a lot of things into the category of...
Ben Francis
Sep 7, 20216 min read
85 views
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The Coming Challenge to Christianity
What’s the Rubber? Where’s the Road? The Coming Challenge to Christianity You’ve heard the old saying, “Where the rubber meets the road.”...
Ben Francis
Aug 24, 20216 min read
228 views
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The “Dirt” of Life
Did you know that buckets make dirt? You read that right. Buckets make dirt. In his essay, “The work of Local culture,” Wendall Berry...
Ben Francis
Jul 11, 20214 min read
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