Costi Hinn shares how he hopes we will respond to the recent Alistair Begg controversy under the following headings: 1) Correcting the Compromised Counsel.
2) Don’t Believe the Graceless Narrative. 3) If Alistair Would Repent.


The greatest threat to the church is not the blowing winds of culture from the outside, but false teachers who infiltrate from the inside. Those who look like sheep but are wolves. Those posing as shepherds but are charlatans. These false teachers will most certainly be conduits of cultural ideologies, while at the same time, spewing licentious lies and exploiting people with their greed.

Church leadership is at the center of New Testament teaching because the people of a congregation will rise only to the maturity of their leader. This was made clear when Jesus told Peter to, “Feed my sheep.” Sheep are by their nature, followers – Willing to follow a good shepherd into greener pastures and likewise willing to follow a poor shepherd into danger. Thus, the man who takes the mantle of shepherd becomes responsible for the children of God.

This is a controversial topic that our ministry gets asked about consistently. It tends to incite debate but my encouragement is for Christians on all sides to think Biblically, rather than emotionally. Our aim ought to be to engage Scripture, present truths as best as we can, steer clear of character assaults, and make logical arguments with a generous dose of grace.

21st century America has seen a church planting revival. Church plants are popping up everywhere. I recently googled “Church Plant” in a well-known mid-level U.S. city, and twenty churches popped up within a 5-mile radius. There was a congregation named “Fresh Church” one block from “Radiant Church” who was just around the corner from “Destiny Church.”

This article may ruffle the feathers of those who teach, attend, or believe in mandated on-campus seminary training, but don’t get too fired up just yet. Let’s start by agreeing on this: physically going to seminary can be vitally important for a ministry leader.

From January 25th – February 3rd I and a brother from our church embarked on a 34-hour journey deep into the heart of India. While it’s not necessary to share our exact location, I can share that we were in the southern half of India. Our objective on this trip was not to convert Hindus, but rather, to strengthen and encourage local pastors who are facing monumental challenges in ministry.

A growing church can be a blessing and a burden. By “growing” (in this article) I mean, numerically. Every pastor wants to see numerical growth in their church because it means people are coming into contact with the gospel. That’s the power source for conversion (Romans 1:16). Conversely, no pastor with convictions about being a biblical shepherd wants to see the church grow so large it cannot be served faithfully.

In his phenomenal book titled, Well-Intentioned Dragons, Marshall Shelley addressed the challenges of problem-people in the church saying, “Wherever there’s light, there’s bugs.” And boy, is he right.

Trustworthy leadership is hard to find. Inside and outside Christianity, men and women with fancy letters behind their names are doing nasty things to innocent people – and children. It’s becoming more and more apparent that academic degrees (while important) and achievements (while admirable) are not the measure of success for a leader.

At times in the early years of training and ministry, you’ll find yourself in the uncomfortable position of waiting. You may be waiting on a ministry opportunity, waiting to complete seminary, or waiting on what you think you’re ready for – but haven’t seen God open the door yet. No matter the tension we feel when waiting on God’s timing in ministry, He has a specific purpose in mind.

Pastoral ministry is a serious work that requires work. When it comes to a pastor’s mandate to proclaim the truth and protect God’s people from error, the task is nothing short of a divine burden. Pastoral ministry can be described as a daily spiritual battle for souls that never seems to end.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about emotions and pastoral ministry—particularly, when it comes to qualities like managing self-awareness and developing relational empathy with those I’ve been entrusted to lead. Pastors often pride ourselves on having a high IQ (intelligence quotient) even as we flaunt our indifference to EQ (emotional quotient, or our skill in handling emotions).