Drew Dyck on Real

I was honored to receive this endorsement of REAL by Drew Dyck, editor of Leadership Journal: “Second generation faith can be a little like next day pizza—cold, stale, and tough to swallow. Darling’s book is for those weary of subsisting on spiritual leftovers. He understands the sometimes stultifying effect of the evangelical subculture on spirituality […]

Real Book Trailer

Here is the book trailer for my new book, REAL, Owning Your Christian Faith. Many thanks to my brother, Tim Darling, who worked long and hard on this:  

10 Things Nobody Tells You About Being a Dad

Before I became a dad, I thought I would be a pretty good dad. After all I grew up in a nice, Christian home, I read parenting books, and heard quite a few conference messages and radio programs on biblical parenting. I was set. The kids I would raise would be fortunate to have me […]

Will We Sing or Will We Whine?

What will Christian witness look like in a society that affirms gay marriage? After President Obama’s expression of support, Christian reaction was all over the map, from the usual apocalyptic doomsday stuff to serious and thoughtful biblical opposition to progressive evangelical acceptance. As a committed evangelical committed to the historic Christian teaching of the Scriptures, I am […]

Friday Five: Steve Laube

Steve Laube is respected, longtime veteran of the Christian publishing industry, having served as a bookstore owner, an acquisitions editor for Bethany House, and in his current role, as a literary agent. Few professionals understand books and publishing like Steve Laube. On a personal level, my agent, Tamela Hancock Murray serves with the Steve Laube Agency. I […]

Go to Exponential for Free

If you’re a church leader chances are you are inundated with opportunities to go to conferences. The problem is that there are so many outstanding opportunities, but not enough time or resources. So thankfully, these conferences post their audio, either free or for a small fee. Well today I’m giving you the opportunity to attend […]

5 Inconvenient Truths about the Writing Life

I get a lot of questions about the writing life from very interested folks. Some romanticize it as if its an easy, dreamy career filled only with paychecks and fame and unicorns. But there are inconvenient truths about writing that nobody tells you until you actually step into it. I don’t write these to discourage […]

We are Believers Instead of Disciples

I’m currently reading Your Church is Too Safe by Mark Buchanan. I was deeply, deeply convicted by this section: At some point we stopped calling Christians disciples and started calling them believers. A disciple is one who follows and imitates Jesus. She loses her life in order to find it. She steeps in the language and […]

Why They Dislike Us: Christians and “Branding.”

“and this is why so many people reject the church . . .” How often have you read this in the last year? In the last month? In the last week? It’s a premise for a wide variety of ideas about the Church, a repeated refrain that has almost become a cliche. It goes something […]

Why Mother’s Day Will Be Harder for Us This Year

I’m thirty-four and so Mother’s Day has endured several new seasons for me. There was the season of my birth, which I don’t remember of course. Then there was the seasons of childhood where I came home from church on Mother’s Day with hand-made cards, where I partnered with my dad and siblings to make […]

Endorsements for Real

I’m humbled and honored to received these endorsements for my upcoming release: Real.  “Daniel Darling knows that faith cannot be inherited; it must be owned. In REAL, he shows us exactly how to develop an organic and authentic faith. This compact but powerful book will revitalize the spiritually bored and burned out by helping them […]

5 Great Reads on Gay Marriage

Unless you’re living under a rock, you know that gay marriage has been at the top of the news headlines. On Tuesday, voters in North Carolina overwhelmingly approved an amendment to their constitution affirming traditional marriage. And on Wednesday, President Obama, somewhat reluctantly, affirmed the right of homosexuals to get married. This is a tough, sensitive issue […]