Articles
Following Jesus in a World Obsessed with Followers
Why We Crave to Be Seen by God We are hardwired to desire affirmation, and that’s not a bad quality in and of itself. In fact, we see this impulse from the earliest stages of our lives. I think of my nephews when they were little. Whether they were attempting a...
The Role of Liturgical Catechesis in Christian Formation
What Is Liturgical Catechesis? Worship is at the heart of Christian existence. The church can be involved in many noble deeds in the world, but “worship is what distinguishes the church as the church.”3 The worshiping church is where we learn who God is, who we are,...
Understanding the Trinity Doctrine
The Origins of the Trinity Doctrine From the beginnings of the Christian movement, the earliest followers of Jesus held a profound paradox in creative tension. On the one hand, the nascent Christian movement, emerging out of Judaism, continued to be ardently...
Essential Christianity: Building Faith That Lasts
One of my secret joys is building LEGO sets with my kids. It doesn’t matter what we’re building, I just enjoy the whole process—the instructions, the endless hunt for those tiny last pieces, the thrill of the finished work. My daughter and I once spent days assembling...
3 Megachurch Pastors Discuss Charlie Kirk’s Martyrdom & Church Revival
COURAGE by Craig Ireland Too many Christians, including pastors, are judging Charlie Kirk's ministry by offence, not truth. They're distancing themselves because his campus talks unsettle people, as if controversy negates Gospel impact and value. This is backwards....
Unanswered Prayer and Trust in God
For me (Jason) prayer was always about words. In my circles, intercessor was viewed as a spiritual office, like pastor and teacher. Prayer became a specialized skill, a badge for the super spiritual: we were “prayer warriors.” We saw the brokenness in our world, so we...
Overcoming Distraction: Finding Focus in God
The Cost of Not Overcoming Distraction In Judges 13 we’re introduced to a hunky man of God named Samson, with luscious hair and the strength to tear a lion to pieces. Pretty much what any Christian girl is looking for, right? Well, you may be surprised to learn that...
Work With Your Hands: How to Make Meaning in Your Work
Why We Need to Work With Our Hands A sweaty summertime rain falls on the corrugated tin roof of my father’s workshop as I position one end of a ten-foot, mill-cut cypress board near the mouth of a tool called a planer. I push the wood into the planer, and the...
Lead Your Pack: Why Children Need Loving Authority
What Loving Authority Looks Like for New Moms I would give two pieces of advice to new moms. The first piece is this. Take a photo every day and print your photo book every year. If you don’t follow this advice, it is very possible that your oldest child will be...
Do We Have a Guardian Angel? A Look at the Evidence
Understanding the Idea of a Guardian Angel Beliefs about angels are typically an amalgam of what people pick up from popular culture, what they remember from childhood cartoons, and what they have culled from casual Bible reading. Consequently, there are a lot of...
Your Body Is a Temple, Not a Remodeling Project: Love Your Body as God’s Temple
Imagine yourself in the following scenario. Over a period of three or four months, you begin to experience mysterious symptoms—a marked decrease in energy, intermittent insomnia, sudden cravings for sweets, and irritability. You feel like something isn’t right, so you...
Your Journey from Broken to Blessed: Breaking Generational Curses
You may have missed the Blessing like I did, perhaps in even more dramatic or difficult ways. But all our paths lead to a turning point. To a choice. The choice I made at seventeen, the choice you may need to make, isn’t something new. We can see an amazing picture of...
How a Comic-Book Style Bible Could Inspire Bible Engagement Beyond Sundays
On Sunday mornings, between 8 and 11 a.m., you may have somewhat of a captive audience as you stand at the pulpit, leading your congregation through a worship service. But after the service, once church members are finished mingling over coffee and cookies outside of...
Resisting Manipulation: Biblical Guidance for Leaders
How to Identify and Resist Manipulation A counseling professor once told a woman in one of my husband’s lab groups, “Your tears don’t move me.” His words stunned the group, but the woman stopped crying. “Those are tears of frustration not brokenness.” We may question...
Songs about Heaven
Oh, the wonder and glories of Heaven! Do you long to go there? The Bible often speaks of the place where God dwells. Jesus told His disciples that He was going to prepare a “place” for them (John 14:3). We know as Christians that we are promised an eternity dwelling...
Science and the Bible: God’s Truth in Creation and Scripture
Science and the Bible: Understanding Truth Through the Ages The Bible is the divine Word of God, but I think we are justified in believing that God expected every generation to interpret the Word according to the age in which they live. Those who dispute this put a...
Choose Joy Daily in Every Season
Who is the most joyful person you know? Stop—don’t keep on reading. I want you to think about the most joyful person you know. How do you feel when you’re around them? Why We Must Choose Joy Daily In the providence of God, I was to teach Philippians 1 with the title...
Faith and Unity Can Turn Things Around
What I’ve learned about the power of faith to repair what’s broken in our confused and divided nation. “How do we turn things around in this country?” That’s a question I hear quite often, coming from folks of all ages and points of view. You may have muttered the...
Five Key Concepts for Trauma-Informed Ministry
Trauma, while not universal, is quite common. In The Trauma Tree: Going Beyond Survival, Growing Toward Wholeness, we look at the difference between big T Trauma and little t trauma. Big T Trauma is what comes to mind when we think of PTSD. Post-traumatic stress...
The Power of Story: Remembering with God
You and I have a story that began long before we were born. In Psalm 139:15-16, the psalmist writes, “You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was...
