Mike Glenn explores the major changes coming to the North American church, from declining attendance and shifting giving habits to the growing importance of small groups and local ministry. While traditional church structures may change, the opportunity for the gospel remains as strong as ever.

This essay explores how God often answers prayers for spiritual growth by giving us opportunities to practice what we’ve asked for. Mike Glenn explains that Jesus doesn’t remove us from difficult situations, but leads us through them so we can grow without fear. Praying for strength brings heavier burdens, patience requires waiting, and becoming more loving means encountering people who are difficult to love. Qualities like holiness, grace, mercy, and faithfulness aren’t simply given to us. They are developed through obedience and experience. God is eager to answer these prayers, but we should be prepared for what those answers might require.

This essay argues that God doesn’t wait for perfect circumstances or perfectly prepared people to begin His work. Mike Glenn points throughout Scripture to a God who is always starting something new, often with ordinary people in ordinary places. While we tend to delay until we feel ready, Jesus simply asks for permission to begin. Spiritual transformation starts where we are, then spreads outward through families, churches, workplaces, and communities. The important thing isn’t how prepared we are, but how faithful God is with whatever we give Him. He’ll start with who we are and where we are, and He promises to finish what He begins.

After you’ve been married for a few years, other people begin to think you're an expert on marriage. Now that we’ve been married for forty-six years, people keep asking Jeannie and me about the secret to a lasting marriage.  Once when we were sitting with a group of newly married young adults, one of the wives turned to Jeannie and said, “How have you and Mike managed to stay together all these years?”

This essay argues that meaningful spiritual growth begins with small, faithful steps rather than dramatic experiences. Using examples from The Karate Kid and the story of Naaman, Mike Glenn explains that people often dismiss simple practices because they seem too ordinary to produce lasting change. Yet the habits of prayer, Bible reading, and daily obedience are how faith is formed over time. God builds trust and maturity through consistent faithfulness in the small things, preparing us for greater responsibilities. The path to a deeper life with Christ doesn't begin with extraordinary moments, but with taking the next faithful step where we are.

This essay reflects on the mystery of preaching and what makes a sermon truly effective. Mike Glenn observes that polished sermons don't always change lives, while simple messages delivered out of personal hardship sometimes have a profound impact. He concludes that sermons must be lived before they are preached, because people are ultimately convinced by truth embodied in a person's life, not merely explained from a pulpit. A pastor's responsibility is to prepare faithfully, show up, and offer what they have, trusting Jesus to accomplish the real work. Like the boy who brought his small lunch to Jesus, the preacher simply brings what they have and lets Christ multiply it.

Whatever you’ve heard about pastors being criticized, you haven’t heard the half of it. I’ve been criticized for wearing a tie when I preached and not wearing a tie. I was told I preached too long and then told I didn’t preach long enough.

This essay explores the idea that our true identity is something we receive, not something we create. Using stories about his mother insisting on his given name and the deaf community assigning "sign names," Mike Glenn argues that names and identities are bestowed by others. In the same way, salvation is more than forgiveness. It is Christ giving us a new identity and purpose. Throughout Scripture, encounters with God are often marked by a new name, symbolizing a transformed life. Glenn warns that when people seek identity from culture, careers, or the expectations of others, they remain uncertain and restless. Lasting confidence comes only from knowing who Christ says we are and living from that God-given identity.

This essay reflects Mike Glenn's vision for the future of the church after his retirement. He argues that the era of the megachurch is fading, giving way to smaller, community-centered churches that serve neighborhoods throughout the week. Future ministry will depend more on bivocational staff, volunteers, and leaders who equip others for ministry rather than doing it themselves. As trust in institutions declines and trauma becomes more common, churches must earn credibility through tangible love and service. Glenn believes these cultural shifts make the gospel more necessary than ever, calling pastors to proclaim Christ with clarity, compassion, and hope in a world desperate for healing.

This essay argues that every generation faces unique challenges in sharing the gospel, so today's cultural obstacles are not unprecedented. Mike Glenn points to the early church as a model, highlighting three practices that fueled its growth: generous hospitality, deep knowledge of Jesus and Scripture, and lives that visibly reflected Christ's transforming power. Rather than relying on programs or techniques, the church grew through authentic relationships, thoughtful conversations, and compelling personal testimonies. Glenn concludes that effective evangelism still begins with opening our homes, knowing Jesus well, and living lives that make others curious about Him.

This essay argues that spiritual growth follows the same principle as mastering any skill: it requires consistent practice. Mike Glenn compares discipleship to learning music, sports, or art, where excellence comes only through repetition and discipline. In the same way, prayer, Bible study, forgiveness, love, and grace do not come naturally. They must be practiced until they become second nature. Following Jesus isn't effortless. It is a lifelong process of intentionally training our hearts and minds until Christ's character is reflected in the way we naturally live.

This essay reframes money through the lens of stewardship. Mike Glenn argues that financial anxiety comes from believing our possessions belong to us, when Scripture teaches that everything belongs to God and we are simply entrusted to manage His resources. Because our spending reveals our priorities, our budgets expose where our hearts truly are. Rather than focusing on accumulating wealth, Christians are called to use what God has entrusted to them to advance His kingdom through generosity and service. Stewardship shifts the conversation beyond tithing to a life where every resource is viewed as an opportunity to invest in what has eternal value, replacing fear with purpose.

This essay reflects on the Asbury revival with hopeful caution. Rather than declaring it unquestionably genuine or dismissing it, Mike Glenn argues that the true test of revival is not emotional worship or extended services, but lasting transformation. Real revival produces obedience, deeper love for others, stronger families, care for the vulnerable, and lives that increasingly reflect Christ. He warns against mistaking powerful emotional experiences for genuine spiritual renewal, emphasizing that the fruit of revival is seen over time. The seeds may have been planted at Asbury, but only the coming harvest will reveal whether it was a lasting work of God.

This essay challenges the way churches measure success. Mike Glenn argues that attendance has become the default metric, even though Jesus never defined success by crowd size. COVID exposed this weakness by revealing that many churches had become better at gathering crowds than making disciples. He reflects on advice from an older pastor who ignored attendance numbers and instead came to church each Sunday looking for "the one" person Jesus was seeking. Glenn concludes that the church's mission is not to fill seats but to faithfully love, disciple, and reach individuals. Real success is found when even one person encounters the persistent love and mercy of Christ.

This essay argues that if Christians truly believe every life is sacred, then being "pro-life" must extend far beyond birth. Mike Glenn points to Tennessee's foster care crisis as a wake-up call, asking why the church ever stepped back from caring for vulnerable children in the first place. He calls local churches to actively support adoption, foster care, public schools, tutoring, youth programs, and any ministry that invests in children and families. His central message is that every child bears the image of God, every child belongs to the Father, and the church should be known for showing up with practical, sacrificial love that reflects the hope of resurrection.

Mike Glenn reflects on how announcing his retirement transformed the way he viewed time, especially Sundays. What once seemed like an endless rhythm of sermons and worship suddenly became a finite number of remaining opportunities to preach, celebrate holidays, and shepherd his congregation. That realization led him to cherish each Sunday more deeply and prompted a broader truth: all of us are living with a limited number of Sundays, even if we don't know how many remain. His central message is that life's moments are precious because they are finite, so we should stop taking time for granted, invest in what truly matters, love people well, and worship God wholeheartedly, knowing that every Sunday could be our last.

Mike Glenn reflects on the aftermath of the 2023 school shooting in Nashville, admitting that, despite spending his life preaching and writing, he found himself without words. As a pastor, father, and grandfather, he wrestles with the heartbreak of innocent lives lost and the deep human desire to understand why such tragedies happen, ultimately concluding that no explanation could lessen the pain. Rather than rushing to political arguments or easy answers, he emphasizes the value of silence, shared grief, and prayer, recognizing that some suffering can only be met with tears. Drawing a parallel to the silence of Good Friday, he reminds readers that God's silence should not be mistaken for defeat. His central message is that even when evil seems overwhelming and answers are absent, Christians hold onto the hope that God is still at work, and like the disciples before the resurrection, we wait in faith for His redeeming work to be completed.

Mike Glenn reflects on the way constant exposure to violence and tragedy has left many people emotionally numb and spiritually discouraged, slowly convincing them that neither society nor even God can truly change the brokenness of the world. He compares this despair to the disciples' experience after the crucifixion, when they believed the story was over and hope had died with Jesus. Drawing on the journey from Maundy Thursday to Good Friday and ultimately Easter, he argues that the resurrection confronts the sin of despair by reminding us that God's silence is not His absence and that death itself could not stop His redeeming work. His central message is that while laws and human efforts have their place, only the risen Christ can heal the deepest wounds of humanity, and Easter calls believers to reject hopelessness because God is still making all things new.

Mike Glenn reflects on growing up in the early television era and how the fear of missing out kept him glued to shows and cultural moments that seemed important at the time but ultimately had little lasting value. Looking back on his ministry and life, he regrets not missing more television in order to spend more time pursuing what truly mattered: reading Scripture, praying, cultivating deep friendships, and growing in holiness. Inspired by faithful believers who lived without constant entertainment, he concludes that the greatest danger of FOMO is not missing cultural trends but missing a deeper relationship with Jesus. His central message is that the only lasting pursuit is becoming a saint, because in the end, a life shaped by Christ matters far more than staying current with the world.

Mike Glenn compares pastoral ministry to riding a roller coaster: exhilarating, terrifying, exhausting, and deeply rewarding all at once. Looking back on more than three decades as senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church, he reflects on the emotional highs and lows of ministry, from criticism and conflict to witnessing lives transformed by Christ, marriages restored, addicts redeemed, and impactful ministries launched. While acknowledging that the pandemic intensified the pressures of ministry and contributed to a growing shortage of pastors, he remains convinced that the local church is God's primary instrument of redemption in the world. His central message is that despite its challenges, pastoral ministry is one of the greatest adventures a person can undertake, and he encourages those sensing God's call to embrace it wholeheartedly because the privilege of seeing God at work far outweighs the hardships.