Delphi for pastors

“I don't start by trying to read the whole Bible in a year. I start small enough that the Bible has room to read me. One chapter a day with my family turned into a four-year club, and the point isn't speed, it's letting one verse actually land.”

“I used to want God to be my Uber driver, just telling me where to go and what to do, but I've learned I can't get direction from him if I don't take time to learn his voice and character. For me, hearing God starts with filtering everything through who he is: a good shepherd, not the author of confusion, and someone who speaks with kindness, not shame.”

“I tell people to start with a chapter a day and let the Word do the work, because Romans 12 says we’re transformed by the renewing of our mind, not by forcing it.”

“The Bible opens with a marriage in Eden and closes with the wedding feast of the Lamb, so I see marriage as God's idea from start to finish. Jesus defines it in Matthew 19:5-6 as one man and one woman becoming one flesh, a covenant not to be split apart.”

“I tell people to start in the Gospel of Mark because it moves fast and gets you face to face with Jesus quickly. Then pair it with one of Paul's shorter letters, Galatians or Philippians, so you see both the story and how to live it.”

“I tell people to start with the Gospels, not Genesis, because you need to meet Jesus before you wrestle with Leviticus. Read Mark first if you want the story plain and fast, then let the questions come.”

“I’d tell you to stop trying to read it like a self-help book and start by letting it be what it actually is: real people, in real places, facing real situations. That means before I ask what it means for me, I ask what it meant to them.”

“The Bible doesn't paint leadership as a title to grab but as a trust to carry. God repeatedly chose unlikely people—Gideon threshing wheat, Moses in exile, Saul on the road to Damascus—and set them aside before He set them up. Real leadership is stewardship, not ownership. We are servants first, entrusted with influence for the good of others and the purposes of God.”

“I don't start by reading it like a novel from Genesis to Revelation; that confuses most people fast. I ask Jesus to be my Teacher, then I begin with one Gospel, usually Luke, because it gives the fullest picture of Jesus, and I read it as history before I treat it as theology.”

“For me, hearing God's voice is less about a thunderclap and more about learning the tone of the One I’m in relationship with, through Scripture, prayer, wise community, and paying attention to what consistently produces love, peace, and obedience.”

“The New Covenant, as I read it, is God's promise written on hearts instead of stone: not a tighter set of rules, but a restored relationship where love of neighbor becomes the proof of love of God.”

“I hear God most clearly when I get alone, put on worship music, and listen after I’ve talked. He speaks in that still, small voice, and the more I pursue Him, the more distinct it becomes.”

“The Bible presents marriage as a sacred covenant, not just a contract: a man leaves his parents, cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh, and Jesus taught that what God joins, no one should separate. For me, that covenant deepens in the temple, where Charlotte and I were sealed with the promise that our marriage can extend beyond this life.”

“I hear God most clearly when I slow down, get honest, and ask Him to speak. For me it started in that work truck on Aviation Road, and it grew through daily prayer, reading the Bible out loud, and learning to recognize His still, small voice. Dr. Charles Stanley put it well: an open heart, prayer, Scripture, and quiet moments are the conditions for hearing God.”

“I hear Him most clearly when I slow down enough to actually listen: in prayer, in His Word, and especially in dreams when the noise of the day finally stops. I keep journals everywhere because He often speaks when I’m still enough to receive it.”

“Conviction is the Spirit showing you a specific sin so you can confess it and walk free. Condemnation is the lie that your sin still defines you after Christ has already carried it.”