Dan Keaton

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@waynebray Boom! Congrats, Pastor Wayne. Praying for you!

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@ronniejmartin A perfect song indeed. Mr. Brightside is right up there for the same reasons.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@ErikReed Saw it last night too. Yeah, it was excellent.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@JeffreyPWiesner Really solid outline.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@joethorn @brianmalcolm That’s a killer graphic. I dig!

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@lukedsimmons Sorry you got that email, bro. That stuff is always discouraging. Bet you handled it well.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@thomastheduell That’s a great picture! Nice looking dude.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@lukestamps Completely agree—just haven’t been bold enough to say it publicly. 😆

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

Received new members. Baptized 3 people. Watched one son preach. Watched another son help lead worship. What a great Sunday!

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@ErikReed @JoshuaBarzon And he’s bringing a giant chart.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@JBay_AllTheWay Her new album is legit.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@claysmith79 Chills. Every time.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@davidpollack47 “Sometimes nothin’ is a real cool hand.”

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

I wonder what a really solid guy like @AndrewPeterson thinks about the state of CCM. So many of these old school artists are just refusing to hold the line.

[Allie Beth Stuckey @conservmillen]

Former band members from the popular 90's CCM band Avalon have re-released the song "Testify To Love" as an LGBTQ affirming anthem and claim it's always has been about queer love.

One of those former members, Melissa Greene, writes in her Substack post alongside photos of another band member kissing his husband at the altar that "love is for everyone" and "Michael never needed to be redeemed. He was always whole and worthy."

This phenomenon of believing that we are somehow nicer than God, that Romans 1 is too harsh or that passages affirming the holiness of marriage between one man and one woman are simply too difficult to accept, is false. We go to God's word for what's true about sexuality and marriage.

If something in the Word of God seems wrong, cruel, or confusing to us, the problem is not with God. It’s not with His Word. It’s with us.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

Pastoral care life hack: When someone in your church loses a loved one, immediately put two dates in your phone: their birthday and date of death. Set a reminder to call or text them on those dates. They are always encouraged you remembered.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@bainbridger1984 @MikeWingerii

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

This is helpful stuff.

[Dane Ortlund @daneortlund]

Ten basics for skilled conversation--easily learned, easily forgotten. (I'm envisioning the hallway at church as I jot these down but they're broadly transposable).

1. Eye contact, including when speaking (it's harder to maintain eye contact when speaking than listening).
2. Listen with a view to what is being said (rather than formulating your own next comment).
3. Smile/gentle countenance as much as possible (90% of people are more discouraged than they're letting on).
4. Ask questions (everyone is more interesting than they realize).
5. Remember that this person, as the image of God, is a king or queen, worthy of accordant dignifying.
6. Be slow to pivot someone's joys or sorrows to your own similar experiences.
7. Adjust to the person--if they are painfully shy, be willing to carry more of the conversation load; if they are talkative, be willing to throttle back accordingly.
8. As appropriate be eager to move to deeper/spiritual things, taking the lead to do so rather than trying to prompt the other person to go deep first.
9. But: nothing wrong with small talk! Talking about the weather and sports and flowers greases the gears for deeper conversation. Christians who only ever talk at a spiritual level are exhausting.
10. It is not rude to smile, shake hands, and swiftly end the conversation (usually the other person wanted it to end too but didn't know how).

As a pastor I've been learning that the art of a skilled conversation is vital, though one that is not taught in seminary. I'm trying to grow in these ways, glad I had parents who modeled this well for me.

What would you add or change?

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@DKCaudell @JoshuaBarzon Sure was/is.

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@lukedsimmons Sounds great!

[Dan Keaton @dankeaton]

@KaleenaColling @howertonjosh @lukedsimmons One quote I think about a lot is, “A mature believer is easily edified.” There’s plenty in modern Christianity that isn’t my preference. But maturity says, “That’s not for me, and that’s okay. Other believers may genuinely benefit from it.”