Author: Tom Agnew

The Day My Phone Died

THE DAY MY PHONE DIED Like most of us, I have come to depend on my phone for a lot of daily utilities like sending/answering texts, phone calls, emails, and of course…checking social media.  That all came screeching to a halt recently when my phone decided it did not want charge any more. I took

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Teaching & The Art of Disciple Making

I wanted to summarize some of my thoughts from last sunday’s Introduction to Acts and put a little more bite in the call to be disciple makers who teach.  I hope this both encourages you and challenges you. I remember it like it was yesterday.  I was asked by the student minister of my home

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The Sin of Misogyny & the ‘Awkward Side Hug’

Fair warning: This will likely be a longer post than I typically try to write.  You have been warned! Last night, we wrapped up a very successful Spring Soccer Season for my 6 year-old’s team.  His little team continually amazes me.  I have coached them for 2 seasons and delighted in seeing each of them

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Fostering A Compelling Community

In the previous post, I began by sharing about all the books I have consulted to help me “create” community in the church.  This word is in quotes for a reason, namely because the idea that we can “create” community in the church is simply assinine.  If we all agree that the kind of community

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Grace Church: A Compelling Community

Looking at my bookshelf right now, one thing is glaringly obvious.  I have put a lot of time and resources into thinking of how to “create” community in the churches that I have served.  The question that seems to nag me, though, is has it helped?  I suppose it has on some levels.  I can

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A Grief Observed…Revisited

“Nothing will shake a man — or at any rate a man like me — out of his merely verbal thinking and his merely notional beliefs. He has to be knocked silly before he comes to his senses. Only torture will bring out the truth. Only under torture does he discover it himself.” – C.S

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That is my King – A Brief Good Friday Reflection

As I write this post, the Agnews are in route to Knoxville to spend the day with family. Amanda graciously offered to drive so I could spend some time reflecting on Good Friday and put the final touches on the sermon for Sunday. So here we go…   Friends, Sunday is coming! That means we,

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On Being Baptist…Religious Liberty Really Is A Big Deal To Us.

Baptists have historically been willing to pay a high price for religious freedom. Baptists, more zealously than most other denominations in American history, were not content to settle for mere tolerance but instead would campaign for religious freedom, not just for themselves but for all.  John Locke once wrote, “The Baptists were the first propounders of

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On Being Baptist…Biblical Congregationalism

This Sunday, Grace Church will begin a 4 week series on Church Polity called “CHURCH MATTERS.”  Don’t get nervous, church polity is just theological nerd talk for church organization.  For the past several weeks, I have been swimming knee deep in a sea of books studying this topic particularly from a Baptist perspective.  My experience

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