Daly Focus Blog
The Reverend Graham J. Baird is the senior pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Colorado Springs.
He’s also my friend.
Prior to coming to Colorado, Graham served as the founding pastor of Highlands Church in Paso Robles, California. The ministry started with twenty-five people in a drive-in movie theater and has since grown to over two thousand weekly attenders.
Graham’s philosophy has been to pull down the barriers and make it easier for those wanting to come to church to learn about God.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, homosexuality, kids, pastors by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
There are five things that comprise a wise, godly life. They function both as means to becoming wise and godly as well as signs that you are growing into such a life:
1. Put your heart’s deepest trust in God and his grace. Every day remind yourself of his unconditioned, covenantal love for you. Do not instead put your hopes in idols or in your own performance.
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pastors, relationships by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
It surprises me when many Christians engage in work to redeem the culture with a somber, morose, and even anxious spirit. I don’t pretend to be smarter or more spiritually mature than anyone else, but this particular attitude is curious and even a bit contradictory.
Have you ever encountered this from time to time?
A dear friend of mine who is a pastor once preached on an uplifting text of Scripture. He spoke of God’s sovereignty and perfect will, of His love and goodness and graciousness.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pastors by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
With the opening of the Republican National Convention this week and the Democratic Convention next, the American flag will be front and center as members of both parties proudly fly and wave the red, white and blue.
It’s difficult to put into words the emotions and sentiments that stir when the Stars and Stripes ripple in the breeze. When you know that men and women have died in its defense, you can’t help but stand a little straighter when you see it.
Topics: Current Events Tags: church, faith, pastors, policy by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
We’ve all seen the ads: Pro sports star wins a huge game, and in the ensuing celebratory bedlam encounters a camera and a voice behind it that says, “You’ve just won the biggest game of your career. What’s next?”
The answer, a stroke of marketing genius by the House That Walt Built: “I’m going to DisneyWorld.”
But Tim Tebow – if we’ve learned anything at all about him by now – is not your typical NFL star.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: faith, pastors, pop culture by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made an interesting remark the other day. I wonder if you heard it? During a press conference announcing his decision to not seek the presidency in 2012 he said:
We got a FedEx over the weekend, at home, from a farmer in Nebraska, to my children. Asking my children to sit me down and tell me that it was OK to miss their games, their concerts and their events, because my country needed me more, and if they did that, they would be remembered in the history books as the people who changed the course of our country’s history.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: family, pastors by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Clergy Appreciation Month is just around the corner!
In fact, October marks the 17th year we’ve been encouraging our friends to cherish and nurture their pastors. Why is this so important? Not long ago we conducted a survey of 2,000 pastors and found the majority are working more than 50 hours a week serving the body of Christ. It’s an invaluable and often thankless role, one that often puts an enormous strain on them and their family.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: pastors by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
There are five unsung heroes at Focus on the Family whom I’d like to extend a hardy “Well done!” These men are the backbone behind the Pastoral Care Hotline. Day after day, Roger Charman, John Barner, George Stahnke, Ralph Kelly, and Alex Person field phone calls from pastors who are in crisis. They don’t seek the limelight, just an opportunity to bear the burdens fellow pastors carry.
Here are three short examples of the kind of situations these men address.
Topics: Family and Home Tags: pastors by Jim Daly with Paul Batura
Jim Daly is a husband, father and President of Focus on the Family and host of its National Radio Hall of Fame broadcast. His blog, Daly Focus, is full of timely commentary and wisdom designed to help you navigate and understand today’s culture. His latest book is Marriage Done Right.