Pope Urges ‘Humble’ Christmas, With Savings Sent to Ukraine

December 14, 2022

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis called Wednesday for a “humble” Christmas this year, with savings from reduced spending on gifts donated to help the “suffering people of Ukraine.”

Francis called for “concrete gestures” of charity for Ukrainians this holiday season during his weekly general audience.

“It’s nice to celebrate Christmas and have parties, but let’s lower the level of Christmas spending a bit,” he said. “Let’s make a more humble Christmas, with more humble gifts, and let’s send what we save to the people of Ukraine who need it.”

Francis has spoken out frequently about the “martyred” people of Ukraine ever since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. The Vatican has organized humanitarian deliveries over recent months, including a clothing drive this month to bring thermal wear to Ukrainians suffering the winter cold with reduced heating and electricity.

“They are hungry, they are cold, so many die for lack of doctors and nurses,” Francis said. “Let’s not forget them. Christmas yes, in peace and with the Lord, yes. But with Ukrainians in the heart.”

Francis recently sparked a new diplomatic row with Moscow when he blamed most of the “cruelty” in Russia’s war on Chechen and other minority fighters, who he said were not of “the Russian tradition.” Russia’s ambassador to the Holy See lodged a formal protest with the Holy See after the remarks, and Russian officials said this week the Vatican hadn’t yet apologized.

In another Christmas gesture, the Vatican said this week that Francis had sent letters to heads of state around the globe asking them to undertake a “gesture of clemency” for eligible prisoners. Francis reasoned that doing so could show “an opening to the grace of the Lord in a time marked by tensions, injustices and conflicts.”

This article originally appeared on APNews.com.

Historic Façade Must Go, Middle Collegiate Church Tells New York Landmarks Commission

Adelle M Banks

December 14, 2022

(RNS) — Two years after suffering a devastating fire, the leaders of Middle Collegiate Church are awaiting the resolution of a dispute over its historic façade.

When the six-alarm fire destroyed most of the historic building in Manhattan’s East Village, the façade remained standing. But church officials, after spending $4.2 million on fencing, steel bracing and other measures to secure the limestone front of the building, have determined it too must be demolished in order for the church to move ahead with plans for a new structure.

“Even though it is still standing, it actually really did burn up,” said the Rev. Jacqui Lewis, senior minister of the multiethnic congregation, in an interview Monday (Dec. 12). “It just didn’t fall down.”

In a mid-November report, citing investigative work by the church’s architect and engineering and safety experts, the church said maintaining the façade is no longer safe for people, including workers, near the site.

“The remaining structure presents a high risk to safety of the public and workers,” the report reads. “Based upon known visible conditions, the remaining structure is in a state of disrepair and has deteriorated beyond its usable life.”

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire that erupted from the building next to Middle Collegiate Church on Saturday, Dec. 5, 2020 in New York. The historic 19th-century church in lower Manhattan was gutted by a massive fire early Saturday that sent flames shooting through the roof. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire that erupted from the building next to Middle Collegiate Church on Dec. 5, 2020 in New York. The historic 19th-century church in lower Manhattan was gutted by the massive blaze. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Some preservationists, however, disagree, and New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission continued its consideration of the church’s request for a “certificate of appropriateness” at a Tuesday hearing that was livestreamed via YouTube.

“We expected to make the façade a part of our new church design,” Lewis told the commission, “only to come to realize that the façade was a burden, and a barrier.”

She asked that the commission allow the neo-Gothic façade to be demolished because equipment operators have no access to the location otherwise, as they can’t go through the next-door site where the fire began.

“Our face, our façade, is broken, and stands exactly, exactly where it can’t be if we’re to move forward,” Lewis said.

Andrew Berman, executive director of Village Preservation, said in written testimony to the commissioners in November that his historic preservation organization would like to see the church remain at its longtime site but does not agree with Middle Collegiate’s claim about the façade.

“If there were a danger to the public or an inability to maintain this façade safely, the Department of Buildings would make such an evaluation and order the structure down, as we have all too often seen them do,” he said. “They have not done so in this case.”

Examples of damage to Middle Collegiate Church are presented during a virtual meeting of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. Video screen grab

Examples of damage to Middle Collegiate Church are presented during a virtual meeting of New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, Dec. 13, 2022. Video screen grab

Lower East Side Preservation Initiative, a local not-for-profit group, has argued that the demolition of the façade would hurt the “special character of this very important historic district,” and the group urged a “full and independent analysis.”

Jordan Unveils $100 Million Master Plan for the Second Millennium of Jesus’ Baptism

Daoud Kuttab

December 14, 2022

Jesus_Baptism — An artistic rendering of the proposed Pilgrimage Village of the Baptism Development Zone of the "Bethany beyond the Jordan" area in Jordan. (MK Associates in collaboration with Mostaqbal Engineering and Environmental Consultants and Design Workshop)

AMMAN, Jordan (RNS) — Jordan has launched a $100 million master plan aimed at attracting 1 million Christian pilgrims to celebrations of the second millennium of the baptism of Jesus in 2030.

The ambitious plan was unveiled by a not-for-profit foundation created by the Jordanian government to develop the “Bethany beyond the Jordan” area, on the east bank of the Jordan River, long venerated as the place of Jesus’ baptism by John the Baptist. Archaeological discoveries of an ancient monastery at Al-Maghtas, Jordan, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2015.

Samir Murad, chair of the new foundation, told Religion News Service that his group plans to provide Christians access to visit and worship at the site while respecting its integrity.

“We wanted to provide pilgrims a chance to be able to spend quality time at the location of the baptism while respecting its spirituality and the UNESCO World Heritage Site conditions,” said Murad.

Murad’s team rejected proposals for five-star hotels and fine dining and chose instead down-to-earth accommodations. “We decided on a biblical village theme that attempts to re-create a 2,000-year-old experience,” said Murad.

He said the theme will include “glamping”-style lodging — a version of camping typified by well-appointed tents with comfortable beds.”We will supply Arab-style tents and all sanitary services that will provide an authentic feeling,” said Murad. “This allows us to be in concert with the theme yet at the same time provide housing at reasonable costs for pilgrims who want to spend spiritual time at this sacred location.”

Visitors will have a choice of different eateries serving local organic food, “centered on the wilderness and plants mentioned in the Bible,” Murad explained.

Electricity and Wi-Fi lines will be placed underground so as not to clutter the above-ground experience.

A businessman and former minister of labor, Murad said the initial phase of the project will cost about $15 million. He hopes it will be finished sometime in 2023. A second phase, which will include a three-star hotel, restaurants, shopping area and a museum, a wellness center and “opportunities for pilgrims to have special quiet spiritual time,” will cost as much as $85 million.

“The idea is to create an atmosphere like that of the Old City of Jerusalem,“ Murad told RNS. The second phase will also include botanical gardens and, since the site is on a bird migration path, a nature sanctuary.

Murad, who along with his team has been volunteering his time, is not sure how the project will be funded. “Our initial goal is to raise the needs for the first phase so that people can see and feel what we plan to do.”

Nine faith organizations have been officially granted the opportunity to build a place to welcome pilgrims to the baptism site.

One of the nine is the Baptist World Alliance, a network of Baptist churches around the world, which is partnering with the Jordanian Baptist Convention on constructing the Baptist outpost in Bethany beyond the Jordan.

The Rev. Elijah Brown, secretary-general of the BWA, was among 250 guests at a dinner marking the launch of the project, attended by Jordan’s King Abdullah II, his two sons and his prime minister. Brown later told local Jordanian Baptists gathered at the Amman Baptist Church that the deadline for both phases “is set for 2029, to be ready for the 2,000-year anniversary of the baptism of Jesus at the River Jordan.”

Brown implored the Jordanian Baptist leaders to work closely with the Baptist World Alliance. “We want to do this in total partnership with your convention,” Brown told local Baptists. “We want to plan together, fundraise together and have custodianship together.”

Brown’s wife, Amy, told the assembled Baptists that her great-uncle, August Lovegren, who died in November at age 100, spent 36 years as a general surgeon in Jordan, at the Ajloun Eman Hospital, formerly the Ajloun Baptist Hospital.

She spoke warmly of Jordan’s royal family, recalling that Lovegren had a special relationship with the late King Hussein, “who honored him,” she said, “by making him an officer of the Order of Independence.”

“Our family, and the Baptist family, have a great appreciation and respect for Jordan and we love going forward to continuing the legacy of Jordan in general and the personal legacy of our family and our larger family of faith by being part of the development to the site that Jesus was baptized in.”

Recalling her great-uncle, Amy Brown said, “We are here in Jordan because of an archaeological project at the Jordanian baptismal site. We didn’t choose the timing, but the Lord was honoring my uncle by having us there for this occasion.”

This article originally appeared here.

How To Leverage Your Dreams for Creativity

Phil Cooke

December 14, 2022

In my new book “Ideas on a Deadline: How to Be Creative When the Clock is Ticking” I devote an entire chapter to how dreaming can impact your creativity. The idea that creative breakthroughs can happen during dreaming is as old as the ancient world. The Bible as well as other ancient writings are filled with references to men and women receiving divine messages during dreams, and written records of creative insights while we’re asleep have continued right up to the present. The Victorian age experienced an explosion of serious scientific study of dreams.

The problem is, there is just as much scientific disagreement on the subject as there are reports of success.

Many people have testified to the creative insights discovered in dreams from writers like Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein, to inventors like Elias Howe, creator of the sewing machine. More recently, when he lay in bed in Rome during an illness working on his movie Piranha II, film director James Cameron dreamed of a horrifying robot walking out of a fire to attack a woman. Out of that experience, he wrote the screenplay and directed the film Terminator.

Artists like Salvador Dali, inventors like Thomas Edison, and even physicist Albert Einstein understood the power of the stage of sleep we call “nodding off.” At that moment, theta waves predominate in the brain, and over the years, many creative people have attributed that moment to a flush of breakthrough ideas.

Personally, I regularly have epic dreams, and sometimes even in the same night, I’ll wake up, fall back asleep, and then pick up where the last dream left off. One recurring dream that’s been going on for years and “drives” me crazy is finding myself driving a car backwards. For whatever reason, I’m careening down a hill, twisting my head, so I can see out the back, picking up speed, trying to avoid cars coming the other way, and I can’t stop. I’ll often wake up in a complete sweat from the stress of what it must feel like right before a massive car accident.

As a result of having so many vivid dreams, for years I kept a dream journal, and every morning I would write down whatever I’d dreamed about the previous night—no matter how crazy and odd.

What have I learned from the experience? In my case, I don’t discover complete answers in dreams, but I do make connections. During those moments in my sleep, my subconscious is released to make (sometimes weird) connections I would have never made in my conscious mind.

As a result, things suddenly make sense, or at the very least, I have new insight into the problem or creative challenge. I would encourage you to watch my podcast episode titled 10 Proven Tips to Be Creative on Demand, and for deeper study and insight, get my book “Ideas on a Deadline: How to Be Creative When the Clock is Ticking.”

After all, who knows what creative insights might be waiting for you in your dreams!

This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.

Ron Edmondson: Common Excuses When the Race Gets Difficult

Ron Edmondson

December 14, 2022

There are common excuses I have heard – and made – when the race gets difficult on the way to the finish line in a race – and in life and leadership.

I try to exercise as often as possible. Often my travel schedule makes it more difficult to do everyday, but I know for my personal health and well-being exercise is an important part of life and leadership. So, I have to be creative.

Before knee problems, I was an avid runner. I ran for pleasure, but also in quite a few races. I’ve even run a marathon and numerous half marathons. I learned, however, distance is relative. If a 5K is your milestone, then it will be a long race. I once met a guy who runs the 100 mile races.

Good for him.

One thing I learned, however, if you’re pushing yourself at some point along the race you’ll struggle. It will go from being “fun” to being a challenge. Ask any serious runner.

I’ve also discovered – and this is the good part – without those stretching moments, there wouldn’t be near as much thrill of crossing the finish line. There is nothing quite like running (or hobbling in my case) across the 26.2 mile marker of a marathon.

Here’s something else I’ve observed. There’s a common language among those struggling – at the point of greatest struggle.And often excuses we tell ourselves.

I think you’ll find these very life and leadership applicable.

Run any distance race and you’ll hear people express frustration out loud.

Common excuses I’ve heard when the race is hard:

I can’t do this.
This is harder than I thought.
I’m not a runner.
Why did I sign up for this?
This is crazy.
I’m never doing another one of these.
I’m in pain

Yet, here’s something else I’ve observed.

I’ve never met a runner, who crossed the finish line, who didn’t receive the thrill of victory – even if it was only after they threw up in a trashcan nearby.

Student Ministry Often Falls Short: Discover Some Reasons and Fixes

Brandon Hilgemann

December 13, 2022

I spent years as a student ministry participant, volunteer, and pastor. So I have lots of experience leading in the teen ministry trenches. I began as an idealistic young man. My plan was to love Jesus, love students, and serve God to the best of my abilities.

But the daydream ended fast. I had no idea the biggest opposition in student ministry would come from within the church. Unless you’ve been there, you’ll never understand a student pastor’s burden and why many don’t last long.

Not all student ministries in America are failing or falling short. But I’m afraid it’s a growing problem. I’ve heard from a lot of youth leaders who feel the same.

Here’s the big problem: Most churches either don’t value student ministry enough or value the wrong things. And because of this, far too many young people abandon the church after graduation.

Although we could debate the statistics, the fact is simple. Most student ministries see more kids falling away after graduation than remaining in the faith.

3 Difficulties of Student Ministry

I believe three major problems have led to the failing state of student ministry in most U.S. churches:

1. We measure growing crowds, not disciples.

We don’t evaluate the effectiveness of the spiritual education of teenagers. All we value is the numbers.

I’ve seen youth pastors with no biblical education regularly take the Bible out of context (bordering on heresy). Yet they get promoted just because they’re good with people and can draw a crowd. Is that the goal? Is that why churches should have student ministry?

Why I Serve in Children’s Ministry: 6 Amazing Volunteer Benefits

Dale Hudson

December 13, 2022

When people ask why I serve in children’s ministry, I have lots of great answers. If you’re wondering why you should volunteer in kidmin programs, read on!

In our church’s volunteer orientation class, we share six key benefits of serving in children’s ministry. Many more benefits exist, but these provide a great start.

Be sure you can answer why I serve in children’s ministry. Keep these six reasons handy for the next time you are recruiting kidmin volunteers.

6 Reasons Why I Serve in Children’s Ministry

1. First, you’re joining a FAMILY.

You’ll develop friendships with your fellow volunteers. You’ll laugh together, share prayer requests, and support and encourage one another.

We weren’t meant to do the Christian life alone. And serving in children’s ministry means you’ll be surrounded by friends who will walk with you on your journey. You’re gaining a family.

2. You’re also getting ready to be part of FUN.

Yep…that’s right. Lots of fun! No matter your age, a little kid inside you wants to have fun. And now that you’re part of the Children’s Ministry team, you can let that little kid out. Laugh…smile…enjoy yourself. Have a good time!

3. Another benefit of serving in children’s ministry is FAITH.

You’re going to find your faith growing. You see, serving is a key component of growing your faith. So get ready to see your spiritual growth accelerate as you begin serving.

4. By joining the team, you receive a FOCUS.

We are focused on one thing: impacting our world with the love and message of Jesus Christ. Everyone…every day…everywhere. This is why you’ll be serving. This is why you’ll hold babies in the nursery. It’s why you’ll help preschoolers color a Bible story picture. It’s why you’ll greet new kids and families.

This is why you’ll lead groups of kids. It’s why you’ll run a computer presentation or sound board. It’s why you’ll pass out take-home papers. This is why you’ll help families check in. It’s why you’ll lead kids in worship and share a Bible story. And it’s why you’ll help keep kids safe.

It’s so they can be impacted by the love and message of Jesus Christ. So they can discover the hope found in Him. This is the focus of the team you’re joining. It’s a focus worth giving your best to.

Jamal Bryant Wants His Church To Grow Cannabis and To Teach Black Men To Legally Farm It

Jesse T. Jackson

December 13, 2022

Jamal Bryant, pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church located in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, told actress Rashan Ali that he suggested to his deacons that they begin legally raising cannabis in an attempt to attract young Black men to the church.

The interview took place on Ali’s “Cool Soror Podcast” in an episode titled “Holy Smoke” earlier this month (Dec. 7). During the interview, Bryant suggested that megachurches would soon die if churches don’t start reinventing themselves.

Bryant became the church’s pastor in 2018 after longtime controversial pastor Bishop Eddie L. Long died in 2017. Long at one time had grown the church to an estimated 25,000 members, but those numbers dwindled after four men who attended the church accused Long of coercing them into sexual relationships.

Since Bryant’s installation, the church has grown despite their new pastor’s infidelity, which led to his divorce in 2009.

The outspoken pastor, who recently slammed U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker during a sermon, reminded Ali that he told his congregation after the Supreme Court’s abortion ruling in June that he and New Birth Missionary Baptist Church “are pro-choice, because Jesus is,” going on to give the example of Adam and Eve being given the choice to eat of the trees in the garden to paint God as “pro-choice.”

“Christianity, in and unto itself is pro choice, but we don’t say anything, because a lot of Black churches are white evangelicals in drag, and they don’t know who it is that they are, because their politics are thrown off and [they] don’t really speak to what’s happening in the culture,” Bryant stated.

After being asked how he is leading the “effort to try to change the narrative [and] making sure that more people think like this,” Bryant said, “I’m mindful that I’m not after Christians.” He went on to say that he is “after people who don’t go to church.”

So many churches are just recycling people that come from other churches, he said. “That’s not who I’m after. I’m looking for people that smell like weed. New Birth is the largest land owning Black church in America. And so my position to my deacons is why aren’t we not raising cannabis?”

Bryant, who led the memorial services for rappers Tupac Shakur and Christopher George Latore Wallace (Notorious B.I.G.), believes that if their church began growing cannabis, he would “be able to bring in Black males. They’re able to do it legally. Teaching them farming, helping them to enhance the ecosystem.”

Predicting the response of the “Black boy” who hears about them growing “weed at the church,” Bryant said, “‘Where do I join?’ I don’t need no pamphlet for him. He’s coming in, because that’s the group that I’m going after.”

The Bible Is Not ‘Magical’—Jen Wilkin Addresses Common Misconceptions in Our Approach to God’s Word

Jessica Mouser

December 13, 2022

jen wilkin — Photo courtesy of Jen Wilkin

There are several misconceptions Christians can have when it comes to our expectations about reading the Bible. Author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin addressed some of these misunderstandings in a recent interview on the Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast, where she also gave suggestions for how church leaders can help congregants engage with the Bible well.

“This, like any other spiritual discipline, is something that we labor for,” said Wilkin. “It’s something that requires effort on our part.”

Jen Wilkin: How Not To Approach the Bible

Jen Wilkin is executive director of Family and Next Gen Ministries at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas. She is the author of several books, including, “Ten Words to Live By: Delighting In and Doing What God Commands” and “Women of the Word: How to Study the Bible with Both Our Hearts and Our Minds.”

One of the main misunderstandings people have about reading the Bible is thinking that it should be easy, says Wilkin, a view she attributes in part to our “instant gratification culture.” In fact, Wilkin calls the idea that reading the Bible should be easy “the biggest challenge” to getting people to engage with it. She said:

We know that to be a follower of Christ is to take up our cross and deny ourselves and follow him. We think that applies to things like giving our money and allocating our time in the day. And we don’t think that it will be hard for us to open the Scriptures and draw the necessary wisdom that we need from them.

A related misconception is that we forget loving God involves loving him with all of our minds. Using our minds well is difficult and takes work. For example, said Wilkin, “Meditating on something is, first of all, an act of the intellect, and it’s really mulling something over and giving it a chance to expand on you.” We need to pursue “an expansive way of reading” the Bible, she says, instead of being satisfied with “a surface level understanding” and “a bare minimum way of reading.”

Another wrong idea people have sometimes is they think the quality of their day is determined by whether or not they start it with Bible reading. Said Wilkin, “What we have a lot of times in Christian subculture is the mindset of, ‘If I start my day with my time in the Word, then my day will go well, and if I don’t do that, then my day will go poorly.’” This perspective is part and parcel of the idea that Bible reading should not be too demanding.

Yet another problem Wilkin addresses is that it is easy for people in the pews to rely on “experts” to interpret the Bible for them. She said, “I would say that over the last 30 or 40 years in the church, we have seen develop an expert/amateur divide. The expert stands on a platform and communicates the specialized information to the amateurs who sit in the pews. And not only have we seen this, but we have seen both the expert and the amateur embrace those roles fully. The people who are sitting in the pews think that it is the job of the person on a platform to do the work for them.”

The Prince of Preachers… and Church Planting

Ed Stetzer

December 13, 2022

charles spurgeon — Boston Public Library, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

My friend, Rod Earls, has a new book: “Spurgeon’s Theology for Multiplying Disciples and Churches: The Story of How Spurgeon and the Metropolitan Tabernacle Followed Christ.”

You can order the book here. I wrote the foreword and am sharing it here with you.

The Prince of Preachers…and Church Planting

“If I have seen further,” Isaac Newton wrote in a 1675 letter to a fellow scientist Robert Hooke, “it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.”¹ Newton’s influence on mathematics and physics is hard to overestimate, yet he acknowledged his dependence on those who preceded him.

We can all reflect upon those who have influenced us, people on whose shoulders we stand as well. Parents, pastors, professors, mentors, and more would check that box. Those of us who serve in ministry each have our list of spiritual heroes who have impacted our lives. They may be individuals who have influenced us directly. But many of us find ourselves also deeply influenced by historical mentors—those individuals who we did not know personally but by whose legacy we are moved and changed for the better.

Prince of Preachers

For preachers of the Bible in the evangelical tradition and beyond there are few giants with shoulders broader than Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The “Prince of Preachers” is beloved both by those within his theological world—Baptist and Calvinist—and those outside that orbit. In fact, it would be hard to find a historical figure in the evangelical movement more universally loved and respected—and quoted (and misattributed!)—than Spurgeon.

Spurgeon’s preaching ability is legendary. His sermons continue to be read to this day by preachers and students. We have more of his writings available today than any other Christian writer outside the Bible. Helmut Thielicke once said of books, “Sell all that you have…and buy Spurgeon.”²

In his youth, Spurgeon had an interesting theological odyssey. Raised an Independent (his parents were Congregationalists), he came to Christ at age 15 when he stopped in a Primitive Methodist church during a blizzard. A layperson was filling in for the pastor who was prevented by the blizzard from showing up. The lay preacher called the tiny congregation—and specifically unfamiliar young Spurgeon in attendance—to look to Jesus. Within months he became convinced by a burden to preach the gospel himself. He would become a Baptist and, eventually, the most famous Baptist preacher of his era.

I can relate to Spurgeon’s journey as a youth. I came to Christ through the ministry of a charismatic Episcopal church in Florida. I would eventually become a Baptist like Spurgeon. And like Spurgeon, I have an appreciation for all those who love Christ, Baptist or not.

While Spurgeon is known best for his preaching ability, he was so much more than a great preacher. He founded schools, pastored a megachurch in London long before the modern megachurch movement, authored many books, stood tall in theological controversy, and oversaw the planting of many churches.

Megachurch Pastor

When a young twenty-something Spurgeon came to the New Park Street Church in 1854, the congregation had 232 members. When his pastorate ended almost four decades later, it was probably the largest congregation in the world. A true megachurch, what is now called the Metropolitan Tabernacle had grown to over 5,000 members during Spurgeon’s tenure as pastor. Some have estimated that he preached to more than 10 million people in his lifetime.

He spoke to his congregation in a common language that was uncommon in the established church but fit his setting well. He gained strength from the “boiler room,” the people who gathered in the basement to pray for their pastor as he preached. Spurgeon knew that the growth and health of a church must be rooted deeply in prayer.

College Founder

A couple of years after becoming the pastor of his church, Spurgeon also founded Pastors’ College, which is now called Spurgeon’s College in honor of its founder. His goal for the College was both to train ministers and to found new churches through its training of future ministry leaders. By the time Spurgeon died, the college had already trained nearly 900 ministers and released them into the world for ministry service, multiplying Spurgeon’s legacy for generations to come.³

Millennial Pastor: Critique Video Games as a Serious Art Form

Stephanie Martin

December 13, 2022

In an essay posted on the Christ & Pop Culture website, Missouri Pastor Patrick Miller defends video games as narrative, immersive masterpieces that should be viewed as art. Miller, a Millennial with a lifelong interest in gaming, says older generations tend to be either indifferent about or antagonistic toward video games.

That attitude, he argues, has “done two generations of Christian gamers (Millennials and Gen Z) an enormous disservice by ignoring games and failing to offer tools to think critically about entertainment. A healthy theology should drive Christians to develop a framework for critically evaluating games that takes them seriously as a vehicle for artistic expression and aesthetic resonance.”

Patrick Miller: ‘More Than Childish Violence Pills’

Pastor Patrick Miller begins by exploring generational viewpoints, noting that links between real-world violence and video games have been disproven. Although some evidence does warrant concern about video games being habit-forming, the pastor says it’s unfair to label them all as “addictive, childish toys that make children violent and lazy.”

Christians’ discussions about video games should include those concerns, says Miller, but shouldn’t stop there. Video games generated more than twice the global revenue of movies last year, which Miller says “begs the question: Might games be more than childish violence pills inducing nationwide sloth?”

To defend the merits of gaming, Miller focuses on fun and storytelling. Well-designed video games teach players the art of fun and “the tactile joy of mastery,” he says. “Recreation is a form of rest [and] invites creatures into re-creation. … A Christian framework for video games not only values recreation, but also seeks to understand and appreciate the unique artistic design behind any act of fun-making.”

As for storytelling, well-done narrative design leads to the type of immersion that “the best art allows for,” according to Miller. He compares this to immersing oneself in a great novel, citing C.S. Lewis’ quote about reading wholeheartedly and receptively. “To misquote Lewis,” Miller writes, “‘In playing great games I become a thousand men and yet remain myself.’”

A ‘Profound Vehicle for Aesthetic Resonance’

On Twitter, Miller writes that Christian discussions should recognize a game’s potential for being “a profound vehicle for aesthetic resonance.” In his essay, he proposes four ways that gaming—like books—can be critiqued and used for God’s glory.

First, the pastor writes, video games can “point us toward Christ, calibrating our imagination and ethics toward the kingdom.” Second, they can “unveil the dark powers animating the world.” Third, video games can “show our cultural blind spots.” Finally, they “invite us into the non-Christian imagination, so we can challenge it sensibly.”

Man Who Attempted To Hire Hitman To Kill Pastor Eligible for Parole Immediately Following Conviction

Dale Chamberlain

December 13, 2022

An Australian man will be eligible for parole almost immediately following his conviction for attempting to hire a hitman to kill a church pastor who had counseled his wife through the couple’s marriage separation.

Pierre Assaad was arrested in June 2020 after he agreed to pay an undercover operative $40,000 to kill Silas Issa, a pastor whom Assaad believed was to blame for the breakdown of his marriage. Assaad pleaded guilty earlier this month.

According to the Australian Associated Press, the judge sentenced Assaad to a five-year prison term, with a no-parole restriction for the first two-and-a-half years. As Assaad had remained in custody throughout the duration of the pretrial period, he will be eligible for parole almost immediately.

The judge noted that Assaad’s time in custody had been difficult because of COVID-19 restrictions on visitors and prisoner programs.

The plan to kill Issa was formed after Assaad met with a member of a crime syndicate responsible for illicit tobacco trade and spoke about how distraught he was about his son’s marriage, which was also in a period of separation.

Assaad apparently knew the criminal figure from his time as owner of a tobacco shop.

The Age reported that Assaad told the criminal figure that he felt his daughter-in-law was “ripping off” his son, John Assaad. After setting up a meeting with a man who has now been revealed to be an undercover operative working to investigate organized crime, the plan evolved to target Issa in retaliation for Issa having counseled Assaad’s wife during Assaad’s own marital separation.

“I’ve had it in for him for six years,” Assaad reportedly said of Issa, whom he referred to as a “bastard” and “big con man.”

The “hitman” agreed to carry out the killing and provide proof of completion by sending Assaad a picture of the body alongside Issa’s driver’s license. Assaad produced a $5,000 deposit along with a dossier profiling Issa’s personal information and patterns of movement, after which he was arrested and charged.

While Assaad’s defense team argued that the undercover operative entrapped Assaad by being the first one to bring up the idea of murder after Assaad first suggested that they find a way to get his daughter-in-law deported, Assaad was nevertheless found culpable.

Pope on Mexican Feast Day Sympathizes With Migrant Caravans

Nicole Winfield

December 13, 2022

pope guadalupe — Pope Francis arrives in St. Peter's Basilica at The Vatican to preside over a mass in honor of our lady of Guadalupe, Monday, Dec. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis sympathized Monday with the caravans of Latin Americans “seeking freedom and well-being” in the U.S. as he celebrated a major feast day dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The first Latin American pope spoke off the cuff in his native Spanish to denounce the plight facing Latin Americans today and in the past.

The Argentine Jesuit was marking the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which falls each Dec. 12. To Catholic believers, the date is the anniversary of one of several apparitions of the Virgin Mary witnessed by an Indigenous Mexican man named Juan Diego in 1531. Every year, millions of pilgrims flock to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, which holds an image of the Virgin that is said to have miraculously imprinted itself on the man’s cloak.

In his homily, Francis said Mary appeared then “to accompany the American people in this difficult path of poverty, exploitation and socioeconomic and cultural colonialism.”

And he said she remains a mother figure to Latin Americans today.

“She’s there, in the middle of the caravans that, seeking freedom and well-being, head north,” he said, referring to the caravans of migrants seeking to cross into the United States.

Francis has made caring for migrants and refugees a hallmark of his papacy.

Francis also warned against any ideological exploitation of the image of the Guadalupe Virgin, whose mixed, mestiza complexion has long been held up by the Catholic Church as a positive model of the colonial-era encounter between Europe and the Americas.

Francis noted that church preparations are underway for the 500th anniversary celebrations of the original apparition, and he called for them to take place in the context of the true “spirit” of Guadalupe.

“I am concerned about ideological-cultural proposals from various places that want to appropriate the encounter of a people with their Mother, who want to desmestizaje and put make-up on the Mother,” he said.

Andrew Chestnut, chair of Catholic studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, said the comment was an apparent reference to the intensifying debate on the role of the Catholic Church in the Iberian conquest and colonization of the Americas.

“While long a symbol of Mexican mestizaje, the blending of Indigenous and Spanish cultures, the Virgin of Guadalupe has recently been targeted for desmestizaje, as the pope said, by both the left and right,” Chestnut said in an email.

He said some on the left view her as purely Indigenous, while some on the right object to her darkening skin tone in portraits over time “and prefer to view her as a lighter complected, European-style advocation of Mary.”

Francis begged for this polemic to not take away from the centrality of Guadalupe to the faithful of the Americas.

“Please let’s not allow the message to be distilled into mundane and ideological patterns,” he said.

This article originally appeared here.

Church of England Bishops Head for Showdown on Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Catherine Pepinster

December 13, 2022

church of england — Archbishop of Kenya Eliud Wabukala, center left, and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, center right, during Welby's 2013 visit to Nairobi, Kenya. RNS photo by Fredrick Nzwili

LONDON (RNS) — It’s a headline that could have run at any time in the past three decades: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the primate of the Church of England and the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, attempts to balance conservative and progressive views on LGBTQ affirmation in the name of church unity.

For years, archbishops have sublimated their own views, knowing that challenging traditional teaching would threaten the church’s and the Communion’s existence. Not challenging it, however, has made for problems among churches in liberal democracies.

Now, this long-running story might be coming to an end.

This week, the bishops of the Church of England are meeting to finalize proposals to be submitted to a meeting in February of the governing body of the church, the General Synod, about marriage for same-sex couples. The document they will be discussing, “Living in Love and Faith,” focuses on many topics under the rubric of love and marriage, but it is same-sex relationships that are the most neuralgic.

The meeting comes as support for marriage for gay couples is growing within the church, most notably among evangelical members of the episcopate who have long opposed it. But if the bishops choose to recommend changing doctrine, they know that it will have consequences far beyond England’s shores in the broader Anglican Communion.

This summer, at the Anglican Communion’s all-bishops meeting known as the Lambeth Conference, the current archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, tried to mollify conservative bishops by reaffirming a 1998 declaration that gay sex is a sin, while reassuring liberals by saying he would not punish national churches in the Communion that allow priests to marry same-sex couples. Conservative bishops from the global south called Welby’s refusal to discipline churches over gay marriage “a lamentable position,” but none threatened to leave.

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, gives his first keynote address during the 2022 Lambeth Conference, held at The University of Kent in Canterbury, England, Friday, July 29, 2022. Photo by Neil Turner for The Lambeth Conference

Justin Welby, archbishop of Canterbury, gives his first keynote address during the 2022 Lambeth Conference, held at The University of Kent in Canterbury, England, Friday, July 29, 2022. Photo by Neil Turner for The Lambeth Conference

Now Welby has risked infuriating both sides again, when he told The Times newspaper, in advance of the bishops’ two-day meeting this week, that he would not say what he himself thinks about marriage for LGBTQ Christians. He declined to let his views be known on the issue, he said, because it was his role to be a source of unity.

“I am not sure I will be able to say during my time in this job. I can express my own view as far as I know my own mind — and it doesn’t change,” he said.

“But the role of archbishop is to be a focus of unity. That isn’t just convenient or pragmatic. In Christian thinking, that is part of God’s call to church leaders. Therefore I have to be convinced before God that it’s the right moment to do it — and not just politically.”

But if Welby is keeping his own counsel, several senior clerics are beginning to break cover and publicly express their views. The most significant statement came from Steven Croft, bishop of Oxford, in early November, when he published a 50-page essay urging the church to lift its ban on marriage for same-sex couples.

Croft said that at stake was the church’s claim to serve the whole of society and that its anti-LGBTQ stance “is leading to a radical dislocation between the Church of England and the culture and society we are attempting to serve.” Citing the pain he believes the church has caused LGBTQ people, he observed that “many, of course, have given up on the church at different points in their lives because of their accumulated distress.”

Croft’s intervention was notable not only because he was the first serving diocesan bishop to speak up, but because he is an evangelical who previously opposed same-sex marriage on Scriptural grounds. In his essay, he said he had changed his mind and apologized for actions, “and lack of action,” he said, that “have caused genuine hurt, disagreement and pain.”

The bishop also based his revised thinking on Scripture, referring to Christ’s comment in the Sermon on the Mount that “a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” The current situation, said Croft, was producing bad fruit.

Pastoring LGBTQ-Identifying People in Your Church With Grace and Truth

Dale Chamberlain

December 13, 2022

As the landscape of American cultural beliefs continues to shift away from the biblical parameters of marriage and sexuality, pastors are coming to grips with the reality that an increasing number of people in the pews not only disagree with their church’s teachings on sexuality, but actually personally identify as LGBTQ.

According to recent data, 7.1% of adults in the United States identify as something other than heterosexual. That number is double what it was 10 years ago in 2012.

Although the percentage of people who identify as LGBTQ is likely lower in your local congregation, odds are that it is something north of 0%. This has certainly been the case for the churches of which I have been apart.

This is both a challenge and a privilege, as you have a unique opportunity to tangibly live out both the grace and truth of Jesus.

While this matter is complex, here are four things pastors might consider as they seek to shepherd the people in their midst who identify as LGBTQ.

Cultivate an Inviting Atmosphere

While pastors are not at liberty to change their church’s biblically defined convictions to decrease the tension that broadly exists between the LGBTQ community and evangelicalism, that doesn’t mean there is nothing pastors can do to create an environment that is welcoming to those who are not in complete alignment with the church’s teachings, whether in principle or in practice.

In fact, this is something that all pastors should strive to do, as people often need to “belong before they believe.” Thus, those who struggle with same-sex attraction or who identify as LGBTQ ought not to enter your church building seeking Jesus only to be met with stern and disapproving looks.

This is much the same for those who struggle with other sins related to sexuality and marriage, whether they are sexually active outside of marriage, cohabitating, or have been divorced on grounds that were biblically unjustifiable. These are all issues that pastors have long been interfacing with. Only, we must ensure that we do not offer a measure of grace to some that we are unwilling to offer to those in the LBGTQ community.

Pastors ought to be clear and consistent about the fact that not every person who becomes involved with the church starts at the same place in their beliefs or practices. Welcoming in all those who need a genuine encounter with Jesus is a primary function of the church, and this principle must be extended to the LGBTQ community as much as it is anybody else.

Don’t Shy Away From Your Convictions in the Pulpit

While pastors should take care that no one is unwelcome in their midst, they should likewise take care that the presence of people who identify as LGBTQ does not cause them to shrink back from declaring “the whole counsel of God” to their congregation (Acts 20:27).

Sex and marriage are topics that arise often in the New Testament, and they should likewise arise in your teaching from the pulpit. When it comes to teaching about the biblical definition of sexuality, pastors should strive to frame their words as though they were in a one-on-one conversation with people who are engaged in the very things they may be teaching against.

In fact, it would be a wise practice that, prior to delivering a sermon that touches on issues of sexuality, a pastor would reach out to an LGBTQ-identifying attender with whom they have rapport to personally share what they intend to preach. They should welcome feedback and adjust their tone and wording accordingly, even if they do not alter the overall content of their message.

One Billion Lost Sheep

Greg Stier

December 13, 2022

Every once in a while, you read something that stops you in your tracks.

For me, recently, that “something” was a chapter in a book called While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks: Forty Daily Reflections on Biblical Leadership by Dr. Timothy S. Laniak. When I ordered this book, I didn’t know much about it, but after reading just the first chapter, I could tell it was going to help me be a more effective spiritual shepherd.

Dr. Laniak lived among shepherds in the Middle East for a while, to study both shepherds and sheep from a biblical perspective. Because the Bible consistently refers to the analogy of sheep and shepherds to teach spiritual truth, Dr. Laniak thought it would be helpful to study them and bring to typically clueless (to the skill of shepherding) Westerners insights that could help us in our relationship with God, the Good Shepherd, and others as we seek to shepherd them.

I’m now on day 14 of this 40-day journey, and I’m loving it. It’s helping me understand what it means to rest by still waters (Psalm 23) and to have a broken heart for scattered sheep (Matthew 9:36-38), as well as the significance of a staff to a shepherd and how that relates to spiritual leaders leading their own sheep.

Chapter 10, in particular, hit me hard.

The chapter begins with this simple, yet profound sentence: “There are about one billion sheep in the world, but each one matters to a shepherd somewhere.”

What struck me in particular was the number: one billion. There are one billion sheep in the world—and every single one matters to a shepherd somewhere.

He goes on to tell the story of Ahmed, a Bedouin shepherd he met who said: “Since 1984 I have never lost a sheep or goat that I didn’t find again, dead or alive—except one. And that one I can never forget. She is on my mind every night before I sleep.”

One lost sheep mattered to Ahmed. One lost sheep matters to Jesus. One lost sheep should matter to us.

There are one billion sheep in the world, and each one matters to a shepherd somewhere. There are one billion teenagers in the world, and each one matters to the Shepherd of our souls. And they should matter to us too.

That’s why one billion jumped out to me from the page of this powerful book. It made me think of the one billion teen “sheep” in the world, most of whom are lost. All of these lost teens must be found. We must deploy all our resources to reach every lost one and bring them into the fold.

3 Ways to Define Reality and Give Hope as You Lead

Eric Geiger

December 13, 2022

Several of the most famous quotes about leadership point to the paradox of embracing the challenge of the season and giving vision and hope in the midst of the challenges. Max Depree quipped: “The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is both a debtor and a servant.” In other words – define reality and then thank people when the vision is realized. Napoleon is credited with saying: “the role of the leader is to define reality and give hope.” Leaders must confront the current context with honesty while also giving hope for what the future can look like.

Those are great and helpful quotes, but leadership typically means continually toggling back and forth between those two actions. Defining reality is not a one-time action. Nor is giving hope and thanking the people we serve alongside.

Leading in a pandemic has highlighted this truth for me. Defining reality has not been just once – when the pandemic began in March. The grief surrounding the losses people are experiencing in this season is not something we can deal with once and then casually move past. We must live with the understanding of the heaviness around us, or we are being insensitive to those we love. At the same time, we must constantly give hope and remind people of the vision or we will leave them with the weight of the reality without any optimism for the future.

I recently filmed a video for a conference for ministry and marketplace in Kenya, with our amazing partners there. I was asked to speak about leading in uncertainty. We are not the only ones to live and lead in a crazy season. When David faced uncertainty, while hiding in a cave from Saul who wanted to kill him, he penned multiple Psalms. One was an honest complaint, a defining of reality (Psalm 142). He complained about the context, but not the Lord’s character and continued to believe the Lord to be good and generous. The other Psalm was filled with hope-filled declarations that the Lord was pulling off a greater purpose (Psalm 57). Same David and same situation but one Psalm filled with “defining reality” and one Psalm filled with “declaring hope.” David was filled with multiple emotions in the same context, and so are we. As we are, here are my suggestions to leaders as you constantly toggle back and forth between defining reality and giving hope.

Online Community Engagement – What’s the Secret?

Bryan Haley

December 13, 2022

One question I keep hearing is “How do we keep people engaged online?” The assumption here is that because we’re watching online—we’re more easily distracted. While there is some truth to this, I want to start by asking this question: how do you normally keep people engaged? If you’re assuming that people are engaged with your service simply because they’re in the same room as you—and therefore, because they’re not in the same room with you, they’re not as involved—you’re sorely mistaken. You have to work to keep people’s attention—whether through online community engagement or in the sanctuary.

But enough of that soapbox. I do believe that distractions are easier when we’re at home and watching online. Home is comfortable, kids are crazier, and the kitchen is stocked and just a few steps away. So instead of trying to force our traditional Sunday worship into a new space, why don’t we rethink this time together for this new paradigm?

Online Community Engagement – What’s the Secret?

I agree that providing a time on Sunday morning with video of the preacher or worship team provides a sense of normalcy in a world of chaos. We all want that right now.

But let’s be real here—any sense of normal that you’re portraying to a camera is not normal. Preaching to an empty room is unusual. Speaking directly to a camera is not the way things are meant to be. It’s okay to live into the reality that things are not normal, things are not the way they are meant to be—yet God is still at work in the mess. Instead of pretending things are normal, embrace that they’re different.

Online Community Engagement is Part of the New Normal

Everything in our world is changing (or has changed). So when the church maintains the status quo of meeting for a 75-minute block of time between the hours of 10 am and noon on Sunday morning, is the church creating a sense of normalcy, or is the church refusing to adapt? I’m not sure. But I think it’s time for us to adapt to our changing climate.

More than simply embracing the change and awkwardness of creating a worship service without the people in the same room, it’s okay to adapt your church services to meet the needs of people right now. Shorter is probably better to keep people engaged online. People are not singing along with 7 worship songs, no matter how awesome your praise band is. Kids are not sitting down for your children’s message 23 minutes into the service just because that’s when you’ve always done the children’s message. Streamline your service to something you know people will engage with.

Take a cue from television

The average television show is 22 minutes long. The average movie length is 96 minutes. And right now, people are watching tons of 22-minute episodes and catching up on all those 96-minute movies they’ve been meaning to watch. So what’s the difference between those forms of entertainment and regular church services? Well, lots, but one thing is that we’re able to watch when we want.

People are cutting the cord from traditional cable at alarming rates. Partly because of prices but also because our watching habits have changed in recent years. Most things we watch on TV are DVR’d or streamed instead of live on TV.

So while we may be binge-watching 22-minute episodes of The Office or watching 7 hours of Lord of the Rings, we’re watching them on our time. Another thing our churches can do to keep people engaged online is to allow people to stream the service when it’s convenient for them.

Online Community Engagement Means Engaging WITH Them

Your worship services don’t have to be a preacher preaching for 35 minutes while the congregation remains silent (okay, except for the occasional Amen from Bill in the 3rd to back row). Now that we’re all online together, engage with people! Ask questions in the chat feature. Take a poll. Create avenues for two-way communication. You can keep people engaged when you engage directly with them.

You want your worship services to encourage online community engagement? Stop pretending everything is normal. Adapt your service to the changing needs of your people. Encourage people to watch when it works best for them. And engage with them.

Spirit of Legalism or Consistent Spiritual Habits? Not the Same!

Brian Phipps

December 13, 2022

I believe many followers of Jesus mistakenly lump a commitment to consistent spiritual habits into the pejorative pool of a spirit of legalism.

Unfortunately, dismissing these proven habits as “legalistic” causes these believers to unwittingly miss out on significant spiritual growth. I believe a right-sized understanding of legalism, accompanied by a proper motivation to embrace the habits for spiritual growth, can produce a harvest of spiritual revitalization.

Spirit of Legalism or Consistent Spiritual Habits?

I remember my final month of seminary like it was yesterday. A professor asked us, “What issues do you think the American church will be facing in 20 years?” That was 19 years ago.

Legalism, the belief that salvation and spiritual growth are obtained primarily from a strict adherence to God’s rules, had been the prevailing message in much of the evangelical and conservative churches for years. That message was changing rapidly as a substantive “grace-awakening” was happening on our seminary campus. I needed that awakening. I still do!

That said, there was a dark undercurrent developing in this change of tide. The grace awakening sparked a growing disdain for legalism, especially for those who were previously trapped in it. To be clear, I believe a measure of this disdain was righteous. Jesus dramatically confronted the legalism of the religious leaders of His day. Legalism is a lifeless counterfeit of the gospel and needs to be avoided.

The undercurrent was the intense emotional swing away from anything that smacked of legalism, which included any consistent effort to develop spiritually. My answer to the professor was, “I believe the church, 20 years from now, will be so ‘legalism-avoidant’ that the mainstream will pull away from engaging godly habits that lead to godly growth.”

Unfortunately, I became what I feared would happen to the church. I read the Bible, but I was not consistent. I prayed throughout the day but never had a focused time to pray intentionally about my life, family and ministry. I never journaled, so I had limited guidance from God’s Spirit on a daily basis. I was in a spiritual desert. I am pretty sure I wasn’t alone in that desert.

Quick Christmas Games: 4 Seasonal Activities for Youth Groups

Andy Blanks

December 12, 2022

Do you need easy, quick Christmas games to play with teens? If your “season to be jolly” has turned into “Oh golly!” then keep reading.

For youth leaders trying to put together a Christmas event or party, help is here. I keep a folder (a real one, not just on a computer) packed with quick Christmas games. I’ve used these with great success for three decades with my youth group.

I’ve selected four of my favorite quick Christmas games for teens. They’re guaranteed to add that extra sparkle to your youth fellowship or get-together.

4 Quick Christmas Games for Teens

1. Christmas Match Game

Purchase many different types of inexpensive Christmas wrapping paper. Cut out squares from the wrapping paper based on your group’s size. Make sure you have two squares that match, but make all the others different. Fold each square and place inside a separate plain envelope. Let each student pick an envelope. Then say, “The first two people who find matching squares will win a prize.”

If your group is larger, you can have more than one set of matching squares. Tell kids to start. Then award the prize to the matching team.

An alternate idea is to have one or two matches for every square. Then give out a prize to the first two people who match their squares. Another twist is to play this game in the dark. Let students use a flashlight or the light from their phones to find matching squares.

2. Christmas Carol Song Game

Write “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” on one 3×5 card and “Joy to the World” on another. Next write the following nine song titles on 3×5 cards, one title per card:

Silver Bells
God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
We Three Kings
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
White Christmas
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Oh Holy Night
Do You Hear What I Hear?
The Little Drummer Boy

Repeat the process until you have enough cards for every group member. Just make sure only one card says “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and one says “Joy to the World.”

Next, lead the youth group in a time of singing Christmas carols. Say, “If we sing the song on your card, stand up and you’ll win a prize.” Sing songs in the following order:

The First Noel, Jingle Bells, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Deck the Halls, Joy to the World, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Away in a Manger, Silent Night and We Wish You a Merry Christmas.

You should have one winner after the fifth song and one after the last song.

Common excuses I’ve heard when the race is hard:

Yet, here’s something else I’ve observed.

3 Difficulties of Student Ministry

1. We measure growing crowds, not disciples.

6 Reasons Why I Serve in Children’s Ministry

1. First, you’re joining a FAMILY.

2. You’re also getting ready to be part of FUN.

3. Another benefit of serving in children’s ministry is FAITH.

4. By joining the team, you receive a FOCUS.

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Online Community Engagement – What’s the Secret?

Online Community Engagement is Part of the New Normal

Take a cue from television

Online Community Engagement Means Engaging WITH Them

Spirit of Legalism or Consistent Spiritual Habits?

4 Quick Christmas Games for Teens

1. Christmas Match Game

2. Christmas Carol Song Game

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