If you’re searching for a new church (rather than wanting to recommend one) click here.
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know I’m passionate about helping people find doctrinally sound churches to join. I’ve recently been updating my list of…
…but we can always use more recommendations for doctrinally sound churches, church search engines, andchurch planting organizations,especially in the states that don’t have very many recommendations and in countries outside the United States. So I’d love it if you’d help out by making a recommendation!
Please read this part carefully and in its entirety before recommending a church. 👇👇👇
I really need your help with preliminary vetting here, readers. Please carefully read and follow the guidelines and instructions below so your recommendation won’t be deleted or rejected.
You must have a personal connection (ex: you’re a member or recent former member, you know the pastor personally, etc.) to the church you’re recommending
Please check this list to see if the church you’re recommending is already listed. (It takes time for me to weed out recommendations of churches that are already listed.)
Please check this link to see if the church search engine or church planting organization you’re recommending is already listed. (Read carefully. The Master’s Seminary, Founders, G3, Grace Advance, and several others are already listed.)
The following types of churches, church search engines, and church planting organizations will not be added to the list (due to doctrinal or other issues)1:
United Methodist Churches
Calvary Chapel churches (continuationist)
Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) churches (continuationist, egalitarian, social justice)
Any church that believes/teaches entire sanctification/sinless perfection
Any church that believes/teaches a genuinely regenerated Christian can lose or forfeit his salvation
Churches that consider Calvinism/Reformed theology to be false teaching
KJV Only churches (Churches which consider the King James Version to be the only acceptable and/or inspired translation of the Bible. Churches which merely prefer using the KJV are fine.)
Any church that uses music from Bethel, Jesus Culture, Hillsong, Elevation, Maverick City, anyone connected with these groups (such as Phil Wickham), Catholics, non-Christians, or any other contemporary musician who isn’t doctrinally sound.
Any church that uses or recommends books and materials from false teachers. This includes churches recommending, affiliated with, or financially supporting The Gospel Coalition, CRU, or any other parachurch organization which platforms false teachers, and/or is egalitarian, woke, compromises on the Bible’s teaching on gender/sexuality, etc.
Any church that violates Scripture’s teaching on the role of women in the church (1 Timothy 2:11-3:7). This includes, but is not necessarily limited to: churches with a female bearing the title of “pastor” (of anything) or “elder,” churches which allow women to function in pastoral roles without the title of pastor / elder (for example: female ministers of music or worship leaders; discipleship “facilitators” or “directors” who essentially function as elders / associate pastors, and so on), churches which allow women to preach to, hold unbiblical authority over, or instruct men or co-ed groups in the Scriptures (for example: teaching / co-teaching co-ed adult Sunday School / Bible study classes or home / small groups).
Any church that does not have a detailed statement of faith (“What we believe,” “Doctrinal statement,” etc.) or link to such.
Any church that does not have the pastor’s name (and pastoral staff / elders, if any) listed on its website. (I don’t list churches which are currently without a pastor. You’re welcome to submit your church once you get a new pastor.)
Any church that does not have a website (a social media page alone is not enough).
If the church, church search engine, or church planting organization you’re considering recommending meets the criteria above, I’d love to consider it! Please commentbelow with:
The full, correctly spelled name of the church, church search engine, or church planting organization
The city and state, or city and country the church is located in
The church’s, church search engine’s, or church planting organization’s website. Submissions without websites will not be considered and will be automatically deleted.
I apologize if this is inconvenient, but I’m really going to need you to make your recommendation in a comment on this article, rather than a social media comment or private message, email, or comment on another article. That way, I’ll have all the recommendations in one place and I won’t miss yours.
Just a reminder, I handle all comments manually, so your comment will not appear immediately. When I add (or decline to add) your church to the list, I’ll post your comment and let you know whether or not I’ve added your church. Please do not submit your recommendation multiple times because you think I haven’t responded quickly enough. It takes time to sort through and delete multiple submissions for the same church/organization.
I vet every church that’s submitted, so it may take me a while (possibly several weeks to several months) to get to your recommendation depending on how many submissions I receive (last time it was well over 100). Your patience is appreciated.
Thanks so much for helping your brothers and sisters in Christ find a good, solid church!
1I am not saying any church or person who falls into one of these categories is automatically a heretic, unsaved, or a horrible person/church. These are merely the requirements for a church to be on this particular list because these are the requirements most of the people who use this list are looking for.
Or maybe I answered your question already? Check out my article The Mailbag: Top 10 FAQs to see if your question has been answered and to get some helpful resources.
It’s June, and you know what that means: perversion-palooza [aka “Pride”] month. What does the Bible say about these and other issues of sexual immorality? How should your church be addressing them? What can you say if a loved one lives in this kind of sin or has been victimized by it? Here’s a roundup of Mailbag articles and other resources that may help.
Can you give me a basic overview of what the Bible says about sexuality and sexual immorality?
I’m including these resources on sexual abuse in this article because the abuse itself is a perversion of biblical sexuality and because the sexual sins addressed above can lead to abuse.
If you were victimized by an abuser, you are not guilty of perversion, an act of perversion was committed against you.
What are some practical ways to prevent sexual abuse at my church?
I know a woman who is a victim of sexual abuse. How can I help her biblically? (If the victim is a man, much of this still applies, but refer him to your pastor so a godly man can help and disciple him.)
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
Whatever I command you, you shall be careful to do; you shall not add to nor take away from it.
Deuteronomy 12:32
Remember long division? Some probably look back on it fondly. For others, it was a nightmare of ghoulish proportions. Likely, most of us can still remember how to do it.
Ever tried to teach it to an eight year old?
That was my life last week.
If you think about it, it’s really not that any of the steps in long division are that hard. You have to know your times tables and you have to know how to subtract. That’s pretty much it as far as mathematical operations go. The tough part is working step by step and getting all the steps in the right order. One number out of place, one step out of order, and the whole thing falls apart.
And then, so does your eight year old.
The Old Testament is the story of long division. God told His people what to do, how to do it, and in what order to do it…
Bring Me the firstfruits, then you can use what is left.
Marriage first, then sex.
Work six days, then rest.
Put Me first in everything.
He spelled it all out for them, even carved it in stone, and still, they couldn’t get it. Many times, the majority of them gave up even trying and openly rebelled. For others, initially desiring to be obedient, striving became the order of the day. They added layers and layers of rules – on top of the ones God had given – to protect themselves from even coming close to breaking God’s original commands. And somewhere along the way, they lost the heart of God, and began to worship rule-keeping. Their steps were out of order at the deepest and most basic level, and things fell apart for them. Often. And badly.
But don’t judge the Israelites harshly or hypocritically. We do exactly the same thing. Some of us rebel lawlessly. Some of us strive legalistically. And both ways are equally displeasing to God.
Some of us rebel lawlessly. Some of us strive legalistically. And both ways are equally displeasing to God.
Because the first step in coming to God is to realize and admit that we can’t get it right. God never intended that we should be saved and in right standing with Him by keeping His Law and doing good deeds. Galatians 3:24 tells us that the whole purpose of the Law was to show us that we can’t keep it, and to lead us to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God for forgiveness and salvation.
The whole purpose of the Law was to show us that we can’t keep it, and to lead us to throw ourselves upon the mercy of God for forgiveness and salvation.
Does God desire our obedience? Of course. But not as a way to garner His favor or to outweigh the bad things we’ve done. Because it’s not our outward behavior itself that pleases Him, it’s a heart that’s wholly His. He desires that we obey out of a heart of love and gratitude to Him for saving us.
Love Jesus first. Obedience will be a natural outflow.
Just take it one step at a time.
Love Jesus first. Obedience will be a natural outflow. Just take it one step at a time.
I’m probably the last person EVER to have heard of this, but I recently saw a post of a beautiful Bible verse meme on social media, and someone had commented underneath, “That’s my birthday verse!”.
“Birthday verse?” I thought, “What’s that?”. Well, it didn’t take too long to figure out that the numbers in the reference of the Bible verse corresponded to the numbers in the date of the commenter’s birthday.
Now if you’re a long timer around here, you know that I’m not too keen on “life verses” and having a “word for the year” because people tend to go too far with them. They build doctrine and theology around those concepts (which are found nowhere in Scripture), and things can go wonky fast.
And if you take this “birthday verse” thing seriously, the same thing can happen. It doesn’t define you. It doesn’t have any significance in your life or identity. It doesn’t mean anything.
But it’s kinda fun just to see what pops up, and if that’s all you’re in it for, it’s no more a harmful diversion than watching a funny YouTube video or playing some Wordle.
You can go old school and flip through your Bible, but I found it easier to go to Bible Gateway and click on the “Bible Book List” drop down. That way it’s easy to see – if, say, your birthday is in December – whether or not the book you’re looking at actually has twelve chapters. If it does, you can just click on chapter 12, and it’ll take you right to that chapter of the book you’re looking at:
My husband and I gave it a try with both of our birthdays. His birthdate yielded some pretty impactful verses. Mine, some pretty random verses. All Scripture is God-breathed and profitable (Any March 16 babies out there?)… but some of them need a lot more context than others!😀
My birthday is April 27 (4/27). Some books don’t have four chapters, and of those that do, not all of those fourth chapters have 27 verses. But here are my “birthday verses” for the ones that do. Why not give it a try with your birthday!
4:27
Exodus: Then Yahweh said to Aaron, “Go to meet Moses in the wilderness.” So he went and encountered him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
I have a son whose middle name is Aaron, and a son-in-law whose first name is Aaron. Neither of them were born on April 27, and I’m pretty sure neither of them know anybody named Moses. I guess this one’s a bust.
Leviticus: ‘Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and becomes guilty,
…Eeek! A cliffhanger!
Numbers: All the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their loads and in all their service, shall be performed at the command of Aaron and his sons; and you shall assign to them as a responsibility all their loads.
There’s ol’ Aaron again. These Gershonites sound like pretty responsible, hard working dudes.
Deuteronomy: And Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will remain few in number among the nations where Yahweh drives you.
See, this is where “These verses don’t have any significance in your life,” is a GOOD thing.
1 Kings: And these deputies sustained King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his month; they left nothing lacking.
More responsible, hard working dudes.
2 Kings: Then she came to the man of God to the hill and took hold of his feet. And Gehazi came near to push her away; but the man of God said, “Let her alone, for her soul is bitter within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
This is from the story of the Shunamite woman. If you’ve never read it, you should! It is an amazing story that points us ahead to Christ.
1 Chronicles: Now Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many sons, nor did all their family multiply like the sons of Judah.
Good to know… I guess?
Proverbs: Do not turn to the right nor to the left; Turn your foot from evil.
Aha! Meaningfulness! What a great admonition to remember!
Jeremiah: For thus says Yahweh, “The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.
Again, thank you, Lord, for good hermeneutics that tells me this judgment has no application to my immediate life circumstances.
Daniel: Therefore, O king, may my advice seem good to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.’
I wouldn’t mind saying this to a “king” or two…
Mark: and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know.
God has a sense of humor. He knows I have a black thumb.
Luke: And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”
The story of Naaman is another fantastic Old Testament story you should read. You can find it in 2 Kings 5.
John: And at this point His disciples came, and they were marveling that He was speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do You seek?” or, “Why are You speaking with her?”
OK, this one touched my heart. Who am I that my Lord should come to me, make sure I heard the gospel, and, in His love and mercy, save me? Why would you speak with me, Lord? I am just a sinful woman. But even sinful women are precious to Jesus.
Acts: For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel,
Galatians: For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate one Than of the one who has a husband.”
This is actually a quote of Isaiah 54:1. It is an allegory of the old and new covenants.
Ephesians: and do not give the devil an opportunity.
OK, maybe this IS my life verse! Or at least my ministry verse.😀
What about YOUR birthday verses? Anything interesting, meaningful, or funny? Share in the comments!
Or maybe I answered your question already? Check out my article The Mailbag: Top 10 FAQs to see if your question has been answered and to get some helpful resources.
Is physical or sexual spousal or child abuse biblical grounds for divorce in a Christian marriage?
I hate that this question even needs to be addressed, because I wish abuse didn’t exist and no one needed this question answered.
This question was posed by a friend (who’s not in this situation, herself) on social media recently. Here’s how I answered (slightly edited):
I think this is why God only specified two objective criteria for biblical divorce – adultery and abandonment. These are much easier to measure objectively than abuse. Either someone has committed adultery or he has not. Either someone is still living in the home or he is not.
Here’s how I generally counsel Christian women in situations of spousal or child abuse (And just for the record for anyone else reading this, I’m talking about real physical or sexual abuse. “He hurt my feelings,” may be wrong or sinful, but it isn’t abuse in this context.)
Anyone who lives in habitual, unrepentant sin is not a Christian, regardless of what he claims or believes himself to be (see 1 John 1:5-10, 2:3-6, 3:4-10, 5:3, Matthew 7:16-23). So, right off the bat, in cases of abuse, we’re almost certainly not dealing with a marriage in which both spouses are Christians.
Step one in cases of abuse is ALWAYS to get yourself and your children to a safe place. Many abused Christian women are hesitant to do this because they are confusing or conflating getting somewhere safe with initiating a sinful divorce. That is NOT the case, and it is sad that many Christian women have to be taught that at the worst time of their lives. Getting to a safe place DOES NOT EQUAL initiating a sinful divorce. I hope everyone reading this is clear on that.
The next step is to call law enforcement, report the abuse, and follow through with pressing charges, a restraining order, etc. If the abuser is in jail or prohibited from being within a certain distance of you, he has, by default, as a consequence of his own sinful behavior, abandoned you, which meets the 1 Corinthians 7:15 criterion. The government (which is to punish lawbreakers, and to which you are to submit) has taken that decision out of your hands. That is God’s grace to you.
Next, assuming you’re a member of a doctrinally sound church, set up an appointment with your pastor (or a certified biblical counselor, if not) for counsel as to whether or not you should pursue a divorce. Different states have different laws, and it’s my understanding that in some states, the only way to protect yourself, your children, and your finances is via a legal divorce. Your pastor or local biblical counselor will have the resources to guide you about your specific situation.
If the husband gets genuinely saved while in jail or separated, reconciliation should be considered, as God’s preference is against divorce and for reconciliation, but that MUST be pursued with great care, much prayer, a copious amount of time and fruit-bearing, and extensive pastoral/biblical counseling. (I’ve addressed this at greater length here.)
So, all of that to say, I strongly recommend against making a blanket statement about whether or not divorce is biblically permissible in cases like abuse, on which the Bible is silent. Rather, it’s best to get to safety and work through your unique situation in the context of the local church and pastoral counsel, since that is God’s plan for us (on a case by case basis) for handling things like this.
What are your thoughts on churches that have abandoned Bible study groups for Life Groups? Where the Life Group may or may not have a meal, then go over the sermon from Sunday morning?
In the interest of full disclosure, I lead a Life Group of women at my own church. We not only review the sermon, but also the Sunday School lesson, everyone’s personal Bible study, prayer requests and answers, evangelism, and Scripture memorization, plus any questions anyone has, or “I just need to talk,” issues. We have not “abandoned” Bible study groups, though. Our Sunday School classes are “Bible study groups,” plus I teach on a biblical topic at our monthly women’s meeting.
If your pastor is preaching the Word, and your group is reviewing, discussing, and applying the sermon, is that not Bible study?
I don’t ask that to be sassy or snarky at all, I’m asking because there are a variety of different factors at play here:
Is the pastor actually carrying out his 2 Timothy 4:1-2 mandate to “preach the Word” or are these groups discussing a sermon made up of illustrations, self help tips, and personal anecdotes from the pastor’s life?
When you say the church has “abandoned Bible study groups,” are you including Sunday School in that, or are you only talking about Bible study groups outside of Sunday School and the worship service?
Sunday School and Bible study groups are a relatively recent invention. The church survived and thrived without them for centuries.
What was the pastor’s motivation for replacing Bible study groups with sermon discussion groups?
I think this should probably be evaluated on a case by case basis. There are some situations in which it could be perfectly fine and other situations in which it could signal a theological or ecclesiological problem.
How can you say women can’t be pastors or preach to men? What about Mary and the women at Jesus’ tomb who went and preached to the disciples? What about the Great Commission? We’re all supposed to preach the gospel!
It seems like every time I say something on social media about God’s prohibition against women “pastoring,” preaching, teaching the Bible to, or exercising authority over men in the gathering of the church body, several people pop off with some version of one or both of these unbiblical arguments. The short answer is…
You’re conflating evangelism with pastoring and preaching. Evangelism is sharing the gospel with lost people outside the church, which all Christians are commanded to do. Pastoring and preaching is biblical instruction to saved people inside the church, which God has restricted to biblically qualified men. Evangelism and pastoring/preaching are two completely different, separate things. We have to keep our biblical categories straight.
Neither Mary, nor any of the other women at the tomb, were preaching or pastoring in the church. The church did not even exist at the time of Jesus’ resurrection. What these women did could barely even be compared to evangelism. All they did -in a private gathering of friends, not the church- was a) give eyewitness testimony to what they had seen at the tomb, and b) pass along a message from Jesus of where He wanted the disciples to meet Him.
The account of the women at Jesus’ tomb is a DEscriptive passage (narrative; it simply tells us what happened), not a PREscriptive passage (commands/instructions for Christians to follow). Descriptive passages may support, but never override prescriptive passages.
God does not contradict Himself or instruct people to sin.
God clearly tells us in 1 Timothy 2:11-3:7 (a prescriptive passage), that women are not to pastor, preach, teach the Bible to, or exercise authority over men in the gathering of the Body. If the gospel accounts of the women at the tomb mean that women can do those things in the gathering of the Body, then God has contradicted Himself, is a liar, and has ceased to be God.
Furthermore, in light of God’s clear command in 1 Timothy, if what these women did was the same as pastoring or preaching to men, then God had the angel at the tomb instruct the women to sin by “preaching to men”.
What are the issues I should be aware of at the Southern Baptist Convention this year?
Michelle, will I see you at the Convention?
This year’s annual meeting will take place June 8-9 in Orlando, Florida. Although I’d love to be there, unless someone walks up to me and hands me plane tickets and hotel reservations within the next two weeks, it’s just not in our family budget for me to attend.
If you’ll be attending as a messenger, I would encourage you to go to the Center for Baptist Leadership website and drown yourself in their articles and “Countdown to Orlando” podcast episodes so you’ll be up to speed on all the latest issues and details.
Two major things I would offer some direction on:
Vote for Willy Rice for president. He is the conservative candidate and our best shot at steering the ship back to biblical waters.
Vote FOR Dr. Albert Mohler’s “Truth and Unity” amendment to the constitution and FOR the suspension of standing rule 6 so the amendment can be debated and considered this year.
There will be numerous ancillary events going on before and during the Convention. One of these is the annual Pastors’ Conference, which any registered messenger or guest may attend.
As I write this, there seems to be no information publicly available regarding who will be speaking at the Pastors’ Wives & Women in Ministry Conference (Monday, June 8). Call me paranoid, but it’s less than two weeks until this event, and I find this lack of information suspect, especially since I’ve run into this same brick wall over the past few years when searching for speaker information about this and other women’s events at the Convention. This event is purported to be part of the aforementioned Pastors’ Conference, but I don’t see it mentioned anywhere on the Pastors’ Conference website. (If any of my readers know who will be speaking, please let me know. Please note the exact title, date, and time of this event as there are several different events this one might be confused with. This is not the Women’s Expo or the Ministers’ Wives Luncheon {see below}, or the aforementioned Pastors’ Conference.)
The SBC Ministers’ Wives Luncheon (Tuesday, June 9) will be headlined by Amy Hannon, an Arkansas pastor’s wife who has created her own hospitality brand (think: Martha Stewart or Joanna Gaines). I’ve never heard of her before, but after poking around for a few minutes, I’m hoping she might be doctrinally sound. She has a very small digital footprint, I found no obvious connections with false teachers, and I appreciated that a couple of times on her website, regarding speaking engagements, she says she speaks “to women”. If you’re familiar with Amy, let me know if she’s the real deal!
You will probably find the Annual Meeting website and app to be helpful both prior to and at the Convention.
Remember, the resolutions committee can change resolutions any way they like – even to mean the opposite of what the person who wrote and submitted the resolution intended it to mean. So read resolutions carefully before voting, and make sure you understand all other motions, proposals, etc., before voting.
Have fun, but if you’re there as a messenger, please do the duty your church sent you to do and be in the room and vote when votes are taken.
If you have a question about: a Bible passage, an aspect of theology, a current issue in Christianity, or how to biblically handle a family, life, or church situation, comment below (I’ll hold all questions in queue {unpublished} for a future edition of The Mailbag) or send me an e-mail or private message. If your question is chosen for publication, your anonymity will be protected.
