Articles
Leaving Your Church? Consider This First
One night some years ago, I came home from church and opened my computer to read a suddenly popular meme floating around social media: “I am the church.” The meme, so far as I understood it, was intended as a kind of protest against the institutionalization of the...
Maximizing Tech for Faith Formation? It’s Time.
One of the items missing from my 6th grader’s back-to-school list this year was an electronic device. Yet even with brick-and-mortar learning back in full swing, it’s seemingly impossible for my student to successfully meet class requirements without a device. Daily...
“The Kingdom of God Is Here—Says Who?”
A friend of mine tells the story of having to do street evangelism for a course he was taking at a Christian college a number of years ago. One had to “win” x number of souls to receive a passing grade. Regarding one attempt to present the gospel, he recalls this...
Effective Goals to Help You Overcome Grief
It can be hard to stay focused on your health when you’re grieving the loss of a loved one, anxious about the future, or dealing with other obstacles that cause you grief. But you don’t have to abandon your goals in order to get back on track. You can find ways to...
Three Ways to Support Society’s Most Vulnerable Children
There’s never a shortage of causes begging for the church’s time, resources, and attention, and the pandemic has only furthered that. When we think about caring for those closest to God’s heart, vulnerable children come to the top of the list, but it can feel...
Marriage and money – fireworks or fun?
Finances are cited as one of the greatest sources of disagreements, arguments, and even a cause for divorce. The first is lack of communication, and the second is money disagreements. But money itself is not the problem. Money problems are a symptom of a heart issue....
The Dos of Decision-Making
The decisions we make – even good ones - have far reaching impacts. Sometimes even good decisions go sideways. How do we make good decisions? Here are some tips: Does Scripture already give clear directions? Jesus distilled the Ten Commandments into two: love God and...
Echoing God’s Love
While I was chasing my dream as a musician, I had gotten my family into a pretty tough situation financially. I didn’t know what to do and kept saying, “I’ll figure something out,” but I never could. My wife and I were down to one car that was in rough shape. The AC...
How Ancient Prayers Bring Us Stability for Uncertain Times
For all its conveniences and wonders, modern life can be deeply unstable. Technology has both accelerated and unsettled human civilization. Novel ideologies leave many questioning what it means to be a human being or an authentic follower of Jesus. Families are...
How We Can Help Equip the Next Generation
I’m the mom of three daughters; a 16-year-old, a 14-year-old, and a 10 year old. My girls are growing up in a vastly different world than the one I grew up in. It is not enough for them to know basic Bible stories, they need to know how to read God’s Word for...
Bible Study Around the World
For those of us who live in the United States and read and speak English, we have an amazing quality and quantity of Bible resources at our fingertips. That unfortunately is not the case for our sisters and brothers around the world whose primary language is not...
5 Ways to Help Your Teen Develop Good Bible Study Habits
Building habits takes time. Sometimes, these habits are easy to establish, like brushing our teeth. We understand the importance of it—keeping our mouth healthy—and we recognize the consequences to not doing it—bad breath and, eventually, losing our teeth. Some...
Prevent Burn Out by Managing Your Stress
Stress. We live with it every day, and ministry is no exception. I love the commercial a couple of years back where a very stressed young man at the grocery store check out is being asked “paper or plastic?” He has this blank stare on his face as his mind whirls with...
Why Walking with Grief Is So Hard
In 1969, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross identified what is now popularly known as the “five stages of grief”—denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance—as she studied and interacted with individuals who had received a terminal illness diagnosis. Because of the...
The Power of the Dark Side
How did you feel the first time you saw Darth Vader on the screen? Probably exactly how Lucas wanted you to feel. This guy is evil. But Darth Vader didn’t start out that way. He started out as Anakin Skywalker, hero of the prequel trilogy. His fall from grace in...
Monday through Saturday
At a conference for church leaders where I was invited to teach, I was captivated by a message delivered at that same event by Pastor Ben Cachiaras from Mountain Christian Church in Baltimore. Ben said that serving is the new apologetic. In my years sitting at...
Making Things Right When You Mess Up
“Good relationships are four parts liking each other and seven parts forgiveness.” Quote by Jennifer Thomas Gary Chapman’s bestselling book, The 5 Love Languages has become a classic. To have blissful relationships, showing love is a must. To have happy friends and...
A Prayer for Church Leaders
“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them— not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve.” 1 PETER 5 :2 Recite God's Goodness You, Jesus, are the head of Your...
How to Speak with an Atheist about Christianity
“Speaking with an Atheist about Christianity” is what Robert, a pastor in France, did with me 15 years ago. I affirmed there was no God, and I despised religion. Several months later, I was a believer. Several years after that, I was a Christian philosopher. Looking...
She screamed, “Where’s my child!? Where’s my daughter!?
Standing outside the train station right at the border of Poland and Ukraine, our leadership team decided to gather for prayer. As we united to pray, I heard a panic scream, so loud, that it emanated through the stream of Ukrainian refugees rushing past us. Quickly...
