Contrasting Measures
Judging by the standards of the world often seems the natural thing to do. I reckon it’s a timeless trait of all Jesus followers—because occasions of just such a response is recorded for us in the gospels. There were times the disciples of Jesus passed judgment using worldly values as their standard. When we come...
Debbra Stephens
9 Fears Related to the Alabama Abortion Law
On Wednesday, May 15, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey signed into law a bill which criminalizes doctors who perform abortions in the state. This is being called the “most restrictive abortion bill in the country.” And everybody’s afraid. Everybody. Here are 9 fears related to the bill. Which of these are most important to you? The...
Daniel McCoy
4 Ways to Treat the Prisoner as a Person
Did you know that two-thirds of those currently held in American jails have yet to be convicted of a crime? Jails are typically short-term holding facilities, whether a person has just been arrested, is awaiting sentencing, or must serve a brief sentence (usually up to a year). Pew Charitable Trusts recently polled 1,215 people on...
Emily Andrews
3 Ways to Shepherd Well
One of the foremost elders of the church, the Apostle Peter, gives us a clear picture of our role as elders. In 1 Peter 5:1-4, he states: Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to...
David Roadcup
Is it safe to follow my feelings? (Reflections on Lukianoff & Haidt’s The Coddling of the American Mind – Part 2 of 3)
“Keep his mind on the inner life. He thinks his conversion is something inside him, and his attention is therefore chiefly turned at present to the state of his own mind–or rather to that very expurgated version of them which is all you should allow him to see. Encourage this. Keep his mind off the...
Chad Ragsdale
Celebrating Your Loved One in Heaven
Mom went to Heaven on April 27, 2001. Her name was Mary Lou. It’s not a very common name. I didn’t realize the things I’d miss when mom passed, like hearing someone say her name. I felt betrayed by the calendar when mom died. Days kept coming. Life kept moving. How could the earth keep...
Joanne Kraft
Discover It: Cultivating a Disciple-Making Culture (Part 1)
“As you go into the world, make disciples!” Regardless of language, culture or background, most Christians recognize this phrase as the “Great Commission.” Leaders throughout history have grappled with the call given by King Jesus to his church. Throughout church history, the pendulum sways to varying degrees when it comes to fulfilling the call. Of...
Brandon Guindon
Professor Mary Poplin, an Unlikely Convert
“If you are real, please come and get me, please come and get me.” She was an unlikely convert. A well-respected, tenured professor in an elite university, Mary Poplin had grown up in a left-leaning church. But all that remained from her early church faith were strong desires for social reform, spiritual experimentation, and personal...
David Young
Thoughts about Hell from Jesus Himself
There are obviously so many channels from which one can learn about the concept of the afterlife. Many world religions teach the concept of a painful afterlife, often deriving the idea of a painful condition due to a life of immoral living and/or the stultification of God. I have treated the idea of the portal...
Rick Oster
Is it a virtue to be fragile? (Reflections on Lukianoff & Haidt’s The Coddling of the American Mind – Part 1 of 3)
“There is nothing like suspense and anxiety for barricading a human’s mind against the Enemy. He wants men to be concerned with what they do; our business is to keep them thinking about what will happen to them.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters It was the great moral philosopher George Costanza who once famously said, “It’s...
Chad Ragsdale
Book Review: Braving The Future, Christian Faith in a World of Limitless Tech by Douglas Estes
Is VR church a bad thing? What about having a microchip brain implant as a Christian? As Christians, should we endorse gene editing in order to help eradicate disease? What about to give our children the eye color we prefer? “When you start editing the code of life, where do you stop? Are we soon...
Jon Sherwood
What Narrative Are We Writing in the Hearts of Refugees?
Refugees are here. Policies and politics are one thing. Debate is healthy. But the questions of statecraft were never meant to be the church’s main focus. As for main focus, think about the refugees themselves. Just imagine them coming all the way here, having the freedom to really explore and meet a Christian for the...
Antonio Cruz
Start where Jesus starts…with respect.
More than half of Americans claim they have a relationship with God. It can be hard sometimes to tell if this is true. One sure way to tell that it isn’t? A lack of respect. David Hunzicker explains…
David Hunzicker
David Hunzicker
The Greatest Song You’ve Never Heard
Do you hear that? Stop for a second. Listen. It’s faint but undeniably present. Can you hear it? It seems to be . . . a melody. It is distant, almost inaudible. If you strain you will hear it more clearly. It is beautiful, wistful, enrapturing. This is the sound of your life. Indeed, Life...
Julia Martin
Meals of Jesus
Human beings are the only animals that eat communally. We decorate our tables, call our families, present the meal with ornamental color, and use specific utensils for various elements of the meal. It looks more like a ceremony than a biological necessity and, in fact, it is. Meals are complex social events that function as...
Mark E. Moore
Loneliness in Ministry
The apostle Paul was a great missionary, sometimes traveling with companions and being imprisoned for their faith (Acts 16:25), and sometimes isolated and alone. Listen as Paul describes his loneliness to Timothy: Do your best to come to me quickly, for Demas, because he loved this world, has deserted me and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has...
Jon Sherwood