J. Lee Grady

Earlier this week I spoke at a leadership conference for a group of pastors in El Salvador. These pastors face a lot of spiritual challenges in their culture: Drug addiction among youth, alcoholism, idolatry and rampant witchcraft. But I had to tell these pastors that the biggest challenge to their churches is not something outside—it

Carlton Pearson, the Pentecostal bishop who was labeled a heretic by his peers because he rejected the authority of the Bible, is now “at death’s door” according to a video he posted last week from his hospital bed. The 70-year-old preacher, who has battled prostate cancer off and on for years, was put under hospice

Matthew Perry died way too young. The beloved actor who played Chandler Bing on the hit sit-com “Friends” for 10 seasons—from 1994 to 2004—was found dead in a hot tub in his Los Angeles home last weekend. So far investigators haven’t determined the cause of his death. He was 54. Perry was a really funny

It has become common for Reformed and fundamentalist Christians to deny the miracle-working power of God. Known as cessationists, these people insist that the gifts of the Holy Spirit immediately stopped after the Bible was canonized. They believe God pulled the plug on New Testament miracles.  Cessationists proclaim that Christians only need the Bible, not supernatural

Oct. 7, 2023, will be etched forever in Israel’s collective memory. On that day, near the end of the Jewish festival known as Sukkot, Hamas terrorists crossed into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip to inflict unimaginable horror on Jews—and on other innocent people from 43 countries. The Hamas militants arrived by boat to attack

Last week I hosted a men’s discipleship conference in Jacksonville, Florida. More than 220 guys from 18 states and a few foreign countries enjoyed three days of meals, fellowship and encouraging sermons. The guys sang loudly and got rowdy during break times, but you could hear a pin drop during a panel discussion about sexual

Church hurt is real. I have friends who’ve been in counseling for years because they were so spiritually abused by pastors. I also know pastors who were treated horribly by deacons, elders or church members. I know a pastor’s wife who battles clinical depression because of the way her husband was mistreated by their former

Several years ago, I met a traveling evangelist whose popularity was on the rise. People packed auditoriums to hear this best-selling author preach her signature sermons. But popularity doesn’t always guarantee Christian character. This celebrity preacher had a serious pride problem. Once, when a church invited this person to speak in a conference, the pastor

About 25 years ago, I found myself at a church altar in Orlando, Florida. God had been dealing with me about leaving my comfort zone. I had a great job with nice benefits, yet I felt spiritually unfulfilled. I knew there was an amazing adventure in front of me, but I had placed serious limitations

‘ve lost three close friends during the past two years. Robert and James died in 2021, and Doug died just a few weeks ago, on August 21. You’d think by now that I’d be an expert in how to grieve a loss, especially since I also lost my parents recently. But working through grief is

Last week was tough. One of my best friends, Doug, died unexpectedly, and the tragedy shook me to the core. Doug’s death also shook my friend Jeff, a pastor who looked up to Doug as a mentor. Before and after the funeral, Jeff and I cried together. We shared our memories of Doug and processed

I was filled with the Holy Spirit three weeks before I went to college, and I immediately became a serious student of the Bible. I remember waking up early and reading Scripture at my tiny desk in my dorm before my roommate woke up. My hunger for God’s Word became insatiable, and my studies laid