It was one year ago on May 2, 2019, that my friend Warren Wiersbe stepped into glory. Since the mid-1970s I have used his commentaries, topical, books, and small booklets from his days at Back to the Bible. Most copies are signed, and while I often mark up and highlight books when I’m reading them, I haven’t done that with Wiersbe’s books. In fact, I just don’t mark in books that are signed by the author. I even have signed copies of his first books on magic and Tricks with Thimbles. These books are priceless to me.

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Here we are. It’s April 2020, and Easter is just around the corner. For the first time in American history, we will not be able to gather in our churches to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. As believers, this is in our DNA.

To some extent, the thought of gathering around this sacred day is a thought that still runs in a small stream of a secular society. It just seems right. It’s tradition. Grandma did it. We used to always get new clothes or shoes for Easter. It was a day to dress up, a day to celebrate with family. It might not have been a priority the other 51 weeks out of the year, but it was still on the radar for millions of Americans.

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I’ve been thinking about this blog from the past and thought this is a time when we need to get to Jesus. We’ve all been sidelined, shuttered, and sequestered. We have time now to get to Jesus — to still our hearts and think about all the things we believed were urgent that now seem so trivial. If you’ve read this blog in the past, it’s worth another look. Praying these words encourage your heart today and spur you on to Jesus.

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Several years ago, Warren Wiersbe and I were talking about what the American church would do in a crisis if, in fact, the church couldn’t gather. He asked me questions that have haunted me. “If you couldn’t meet on Sunday, what would you do? If there was no ability to assemble together, what is your strategy for keeping your people together? How would you communicate with them if all electronics were impacted?” Every church needs a crisis strategy. Every church needs a “what now” team of thinkers and prayer warriors who prepare for the unexpected as best they can.

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I’ve just finished preaching at the Mississippi Evangelism Conference. It has been my privilege to preach at this event on several occasions, and I always approach it seriously and ask God to show me the message I need to bring. This year I preached on the connection between prayer and evangelism. It is my fear that, in our desire to increase baptisms and see more people saved, we’ve eliminated, ignored, or trivialized prayer as a component for effective evangelism.

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