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Category: Culture

  • Joe Hellerman — 

    In the first installment of Course Corrections For Worship Ministry , I maintained that Worship Is About US — Not About ME . I challenged us to...

  • Joe Hellerman — 

    I am a pastor. I play keyboards on our church worship team. And I am a New Testament scholar. As you might imagine, I have some pretty strong...

  • John McKinley — 

    I often prefer to work on projects alone, instead of as part of a group or with a partner. Working alone seems efficient and clear, because I only...

  • How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor

    An Analysis of "When Helping Hurts" and Other Relevant Works

    Oscar Merlo — 

    The thesis of the book When Helping Hurts (WHH) is a Christian call to “North American congregations and its missionaries to participate in poverty...

  • Tom Finley — 

    Most of the news stories about the death of the Reverend Billy Graham highlight how he reached out to various U.S. presidents in times of crisis....

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    La historia siempre la escriben los vencedores. Esta frase resume cómo nuestra visión de la vida siempre se ve influenciada por una perspectiva que...

  • Kenneth Berding — 

    What is the “locus” of meaning of a biblical text? (In other words, where is the center and source of meaning?) There are three possibilities: The...

  • John McKinley — 

    Imagine in the year 2047 that anti-aging therapies have developed so far that wealthy people not only cease aging, but some have begun to reverse. A few have even started to celebrate reverse birthdays in accordance with their rehabilitated age. “I found a way to fill the gap on my financial aid and expenses.” Tony was Sam’s roommate on the seventh floor college dorm. Sam had the money to buy a house near campus just for himself, but he longed for normalcy and community ...

  • John McKinley — 

    Imagine in the year 2047 that anti-aging therapies have developed so far that wealthy people not only cease aging, but some have begun to reverse. A few have even started to celebrate reverse birthdays in accordance with their rehabilitated age. At this point, Sam had aged chronologically to ninety-three. Instead of looking ahead or behind, he could only concentrate on the day he was in ...

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    ​Cada año la importante revista Time selecciona a la persona que ha tenido más influencia en el mundo durante el año. La persona del año 2017 ha sido acertadamente y sin lugar a dudas las mujeres que rompieron el silencio y cuyas voces empezaron el movimiento #MeToo (yo también). Estas valientes personas han hecho públicas sus desgarradoras historias de abuso y acoso sexual las cuales abarcan todos los segmentos de la sociedad y lamentablemente también de las iglesias.

  • John McKinley — 

    Imagine in the year 2047 that anti-aging therapies have developed so far that wealthy people not only cease aging, but some have begun to reverse. A few have even started to celebrate reverse birthdays in accordance with their rehabilitated age. Once sixty-seven, Sam now marks his age at forty-two. With the turn around he has re-entered life with friends of his newfound youth ...

  • Dave Keehn — 

    Politicians, civil leaders and concerned citizens continuously debate the causes and potential cures for the extreme poverty that has trapped many people-groups in a vicious cycle of impoverished lifestyle choices. Theologian Wayne Grudem and economist Barry Asmus have partnered to present a sustainable solution to poverty at the national level ...

  • Joanne Jung — 

    We are made in the image of God, an image that is tarnished yet has survived the fall. Who we are is intrinsically connected to who God is. Our spiritual depth, our being able to know ourselves, is linked to knowing God and who He is. This is where God’s word comes into the equation, because the Bible is one of the primary ways God discloses himself—what He’s done, what He’s doing, and what He promises to do. Spiritual depth is far more than how much you know the Scriptures or even how well you know it. It is knowing the Word of God and the God of the Word, the book and its author. We come away with a better, more thought-filled understanding of what He is like, what He says, what He expects of those who bear His image, and why, and how He empowers those who follow His son Jesus ...

  • Joanne Jung — 

    Symptoms of unattended souls are wide and many. Self-diagnosis is not difficult. Pridefulness and self-centeredness. Bitterness. Loneliness. The tendency to doubt. The tendency to compare. Regrets. Depression. Envy. Anger. Fear. Hopelessness. Guilt. Feeling insecure. Feeling unlovable. Being short-tempered with the people I love most. Being short-tempered. Experiencing waves of unworthiness. Fake. Empty. Motivated by peer approval. Inadequate. Controlling. Defensive. Engage in only small talk. Mask-wearing. Hold grudges more and longer. Waste hours on the computer or in front of the T.V. Intolerant. Unforgiving. Apathetic ...

  • Joanne Jung — 

    It is a sad but accurate appraisal that in our contemporary society we are held captive by television viewing, commercials, and the Internet. We are victims of a repertoire of fast-food menus, instant gratification, and overcrowded, conflicting, and unrelenting schedules. This entertainment-soaked culture, wrestling with boredom, thrills, and materialism, has contributed to the sensory overload common to urban life. Our addiction to and with information technology with its online connections, news and internet communication, websites, blogs, and streaming (to name a few) exacerbates the preexisting flood of intruding must-haves and must-dos that demand our time, attention, affections, and devotion ...

  • David Talley — 

    Do you want to be a faithful man? Do you long to be a man who “stays the course” in the midst of so many who are failing? Have you known failure and now you are determined to make the best of a second chance? I assume that the answer to any of the above questions, which are applicable to you, is “yes” since you are reading through this article ...

  • David Horner — 

    ... Suffering is not only physical. It’s also emotional, psychological, relational and spiritual. Victims and their families have internal wounds and struggles; some find this pain equal to or even greater than that of their external wounds. Sufferers need comfort, love, a taste of goodness, a measure of peace. They need hope ...

  • Michael Thigpen — 

    I just finished watching an excellent DVD series entitled, PovertyCure. In this six-part study, Michael Matheson Miller leads the viewer through an exploration of the causes of poverty, the role of aid in poverty alleviation, and the significant obstacles aid-only approaches create for people seeking to move from poverty to flourishing ...

  • Andy Draycott — 

    Then Charlottesville, now Sutherland Springs. In contemporary America. Islamabad. Cairo. Worshippers gathered together are met with unprovoked lethal violence. And we mourn. We mourn as fellow humans, we grieve as fellow believers, we mourn as a world-wide church. We grieve as those who hope in the resurrection of the dead assured by our anointed King and Savior Jesus who will come again to establish righteousness and equity through judgment ...

  • Thaddeus Williams — 

    The 16th century church was in dire need of a Reformation. What about today, a half millennium later? Is the 21st century church due for another Reformation, a Re-Reformation? Professor Williams shares his thoughts ...

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    The phrase or hashtag #MeToo became viral in social media in recent days. “Me Too” is not a new phrase; the African-American social activist Tarana Burke started using it ten years ago, but it became a media trending topic recently. This phrase represents a public acknowledgement that a person (although women are sadly the vast majority) has been sexually harassed or assaulted. It has been heartbreaking to read the countless testimonies of people who had the courage to share their abuse stories—many of them for the first time—with openness and frankness ...

  • Octavio Esqueda — 

    La frase o “hashtag” #metoo (yo también) se ha hecho viral en las redes sociales en los últimos días. No es una frase nueva porque desde hace 10 años la activista afroamericana Tarana Burke intentó hacerla pública, pero no ha sido sino hasta estos días que su uso se ha convertido en una tendencia social. La frase indica un reconocimiento público que una mujer, principalmente y en su gran mayoría aunque también incluye hombres, ha sido víctima de cualquier tipo de acoso sexual o incluso violación. Ha sido desgarrador leer los innumerables testimonios de personas que han tenido la valentía de contar sus historias y hablar de frente, en muchas ocasiones por primera vez, sobre el abuso que sufrieron ...

  • Markus Zehnder — 

    I present these thoughts from the perspective of someone who grew up in and is familiar with the academic and spiritual situation on the European continent. My observation is that many of the trends that have eroded a robust Christian influence on European culture are very much active in the Evangelical world of the US in the current situation as well ...

  • Betsy Barber — 

    When my father died, I grieved. My father died on a Sunday morning, early. His hospital roommate told us that Dad had spent his last night—the whole night—praying softly for his family, person by person, before dying peacefully in the early morning. Even though we’d known that he would die soon from bone cancer, and knew that he was eager to be home with the Lord, it was still a shock. It was still too soon. Death is like that: it always surprises us and it interrupts our lives. We stop, and we grieve.

  • Thaddeus Williams — 

    Fifteen years ago in Paris, I had a conversation with a young existentialist who said something as unflattering as it was memorable: “Whatever the world does the church does ten years later and worse.” My new friend was talking about Christian music, describing a decade lag factor, a slowness to recognize and adapt to cultural changes that, in his estimation, rendered the church musically irrelevant ...