by Bret Capranica | Nov 8, 2010 | Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry
The Capranica has been silent for a number of weeks. That’s not necessarily new, though August and September were banner months for readership. As most will know, our family just moved from the desert of Southern California to tundra of the Kansas City, Missouri area. We now live in Lee’s Summit, a suburb of Kansas City, and I recently became the Pastor-Teacher of Summit Woods Baptist Church. Yesterday was my third week in the pulpit and I commence my fourth week in the office today. The transition was quick and relatively easy as far as moves go. The kids have adjusted well and we are all adjusting from the normal November 90″™s in Hemet to the normal 40 and 50 degree weather for Kansas City. We’re bracing for the fun stuff on its way. Our transition was, as most issues in life are, a learning experience for us. The lessons that come to mind are ones not necessarily attached to moving to a new ministry assignment – several are essential for the normality of life. Yet, moving your family across the country (or further) is no normal time. Though we are still in the beginning stages, here’s a few thoughts on what I have found helpful during the transition: 1. Spend encouraging time with good friends before leaving. We made it a point to sped some wonderful fellowship time with people who were close to us before we left (though we were unable to see everyone). We treasure every one of those conversations – every meal – every moment we had with such precious friends. We had rich times...
![Answering Hot Topics – How Long Should a Sermon Last?]()
by Bret Capranica | Sep 5, 2010 | Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, Preaching
How Long Should a Sermon Be from Bret Capranica on Vimeo. How Long Should a Sermon Be? Here”™s a long post about long sermons. I’ve never known this not to be an issue. Some could care less how long the message is, others have firm convictions based on personal experience and contemporary studies as to how long any public address should be in order to be effectively assimilated. I want to address this issue from a number of fronts: Regular, consecutive exposition is the sort of preaching I believe is most helpful for the sanctification of God’s people. Those who know me know that I believe expository preaching is what is most helpful in the corporate sanctification of God’s people. I like to define expository preaching as sermons where the point and structure of the sermon reflect the point and structure of the biblical passage. My definition doesn’t demand long or short sermons. I think shorter sermons may be able to present the point of a passage as well, perhaps better than a longer one. However, longer sermons may prove more effective in not only presenting the point of the passage clearly, but also demonstrating how a preacher arrived at his conclusions. Nonetheless, I think, as a regular diet, moving through books of the Bible book-by-book, passage-by-passage, showing the author’s intention and clarifying the contemporary application of a text is overall most helpful in the spiritual growth of God’s people. What are the most helpful ingredients in this sort of preaching? In a typical exposition here are the elements I want to accomplish: “¢ Introduce the main idea of...
by Bret Capranica | Sep 4, 2010 | Calvinism, Featured Articles, Pastoral Ministry, The Gospel
Am I a Calvinist? from Bret Capranica on Vimeo. As you might imagine, I am often asked about this. Obviously, I have openly identifed myself with Calvinism in some regard, but when really pushed on this issue I don’t have any desire to publicly defend myself as a Calvinist. That’s not because I’m ashamed of what I believe or with whom it may associate me, nor am I trying to duck behind a facade and not answer tough questions. I really do have an aversion to many of these sorts of public theological labels. Admittedly, I am probably inconsistent in my aversion. I don’t mind being called a Baptist, even though I abhor some of the caricatures, but I am not dogmatic in defending myself as an ardent Dispensationalist, though I would hold a number of its tenets. Why I have an aversion to theological labels. 1. Labels tend to avoid biblical discussion. If I simply come out and publicly identify myself as a Calvinist or even a Dispensationalist, the conversation with many immediately ceases and we tend to go no further without any real biblical interaction over the issues. Or, association with a particular label often leads to a mere discussion of whose syllogism is most logical. Maybe that has its place, but not fundamentally. Why begin, not with “are you a . . . “ but with “how do you understand this biblical passage, or that doctrinal implication.” I have no interest in defending Calvinism per se. I have great interest in discussing biblical texts and how we come to certain conclusions about them. 2. Labels...
by Bret Capranica | Sep 3, 2010 | Featured Articles, Ordinary Pastor, Pastoral Ministry
Answering Hot Topics from Bret Capranica on Vimeo. Last Sunday, August 29, the elders of Summit Woods Baptist Church, publicly presented me as the candidate to become the church”™s next Senior Pastor. Kelly and I are very excited to bring our family out to Lee”™s Summit next week in view of being called to serve at Summit Woods. We have had a tremendously warm reception by a number of people from the church already (via Facebook, e-mail, and Twitter). Our fellowship with the elders has been abundantly sweet. In our continued to dialogue since we were presented to the church, the elders and I thought it might be helpful to put out some more answers to questions that people have raised. I”™m happy to do that. So, for the next few days, you”™ll see some posts here at the blog to answer further questions people have posed. I call them, “Answering Hot Topics.” I”™ll hit the following topics: Are You a Calvinist? How Long Should A Sermon Be? An Affirmation About Alcohol Thoughts on Educating Our Children Stewardship and Local Church Giving I am sure there are many more questions that I could address. If you have other topics, please feel free to e-mail them to me or leave a note in the comment section of this post. If I don”™t answer them before our arrival in Lee”™s Summit next week, be sure to ask them of me in the public Q&A time, or come introduce yourself to me personally and put me on the spot. We look forward to serving you next...
