Bruce Snavely

I remember early in my Christian life I was growing like a proverbial weed when all of a sudden I realized that my spiritual growth had slowed to a crawl.    Why?  I didn't know.  My Christian walk had slowed, and I wasn't enjoying reading the Scripture anymore, but how could this happen?  I honestly couldn't get to the bottom of it. Over the next few days I saw the following verse in I Peter 2.  It hit me right between the eyes and forced me to do something that I would have probably never done on my own.  What was it?  Well, it was simply the failure to forgive.  I had harbored pure hate and anger in my heart for over a decade toward my stepmother who had orphaned me, my brother, and sister, and had stolen my late father's inheritance with the help of a crooked lawyer. For years this hate had literally gotten me out of bed in the morning, and now the Lord, who had forgiven me all my sin, had shown me the toxicity of my own malice and an...

Americans love to shop!   I guess you knew that, but the question is why?  There may be a lot of other reasons for why, but I believe the main reason is because there is an almost limitless number of choices a shopper can make in our economy and culture.  This allows the customer the opportunity to browse and consider what he or she considers to be the best option.  Another reason many people love shopping is the fact that much of what we shop for is not strictly need based.  We may buy it, but we may not really need it to live or function normally.  Consequently, shopping in many ways may just be a random act of being a consumer of unnecessary stuff.  Peoples’ garages are usually filled with it! Personally, I must admit that I do not enjoy the shopping experience, and my usual modus operendi is the "get in and get out approach.”  I would think a lot of men feel the same way.  Of course, there are exceptions, so if you're a man who loves t...

It's easy to live life in mediocrity.  The vast majority of people are satisfied with getting by in life and basically just "surviving.”  I would say that is a recipe for little achievement and an even smaller impact upon one's environment.  One of the greatest enemies of the soul is the mere satisfaction with the way things are........right now.  However, if you desire for more and want to live a life that matters there must be a fundamental difference in the way you view the possibilities around you.  For others, like those James is talking about here in his epistle, there is the danger of living by worldly wisdom and seeking success without God and without the Spirit's guidance.  They had chosen man's ways over God's ways.  The two are often diametrically opposed to each other.  So what did James tell them to do that they might get on the right track? James, the brother of Jesus, who likely didn't believe in his Messiah brother until after th...

Rwanda is entering a new era of productivity and prestige.  Twenty-five years ago nobody would have ventured a Rwandan dollar that the nation would ever come back from near extinction.  In the summer of 1994, over a million Rwandan citizens lay slaughtered over the length and breadth of this small African state.  Genocide had, in a three-month period, bankrupted the moral capacity of the nation.  It was bankrupt in every sense of the word.  The government lay in shambles,  and the populace, which remained, was devoid of any purpose for themselves or those who might come later. Out of that darkness came those who knew that reconciliation between the warring tribes must begin or else the nation would be utterly destroyed from within.  One of those who came forth was our host Pastor Denys, as he is affectionately called, and he began walking and riding a small motorcycle all over the country preaching reconciliation and forgiveness.  He instinctive...

Today marks the beginning of a fresh outreach of training nationals in both Rwanda and Uganda.  In Rwanda,  this marks Global Baptist Training Foundation's  eighth classroom.  In Uganda it will be our second with a third planned for October.  Only God knew when He laid this ministry on our hearts eight years ago that we would now be training indigenous men and woman on three continents in eight countries. In Liberia alone in the past year and a half, in connection with Advance, we have seen one hundred new church plants started with trained pastors, and  every one viable and growing!  Only God can do such things.  The God-sized goal we have set for this country is five-hundred new churches by the close of 2021. In Rwanda this week I will have the privilege of mentoring our newest member of the GBTF team in East Africa, Shinga Fidele.  Fidele will soon begin holding multiple classrooms a year in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Congo, and Burundi ...

We live in an age of cheap grace.  Eric Bonhoffer, the German churchman who defied Hitler and died a martyr, spoke of this kind of grace.  He said, Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?... Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is...