Former Pope Was at Meeting Where Pedophile Priest Discussed

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January 24, 2022

BERLIN (AP) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI has acknowledged that he did attend a 1980 meeting at which the transfer of a pedophile priest to his then-diocese was discussed, saying an editorial error was responsible for his previous assertion that he wasn’t there.

Authors of a report on sexual abuse between 1945 and 2019 in the Munich archdiocese, which Benedict — then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — led from 1977 to 1982, on Thursday faulted his handling of four cases during his time as archbishop and said his claim that he wasn’t at the meeting lacked credibility.

Benedict, who provided lengthy written testimony, denies any wrongdoing on his part.

One case involved the transfer to Munich of a priest to undergo therapy, which was approved under Ratzinger in 1980.

The priest was allowed to resume pastoral work, a decision that the church has said was made by a lower-ranking official without consulting the archbishop. In 1986, the priest received a suspended sentence for molesting a boy.

In a statement to Germany’s KNA Catholic news agency on Monday, Benedict’s longtime secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, said the retired pope wants to clarify that he was in fact at January 1980 meeting of local church officials in which the priest’s transfer to Munich was discussed. He said Benedict apologizes for the error.

“He would like to stress that this did not happen out of any bad intent, but was the consequence of a mistake in the editorial processing of his statement,” Gaenswein said.

Gaenswein stressed, however, no decision on the priest resuming pastoral work was made at the meeting and that it only approved him being put up in Munich during his therapy.

Gaenswein added that Benedict is still reading carefully through the report and will need some time to finish doing so. He added that there will be a statement from the former pope on the report and that it also will spell out how the erroneous assertion about the meeting happened.

The statement to KNA was reported by the Vatican’s in-house Vatican News portal.

This article originally appeared here.

Noem’s School ‘Prayer’ Bill Rejected by House Republicans

By

Stephen Groves

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January 24, 2022

PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A Republican-dominated South Dakota House committee on Friday rejected Gov. Kristi Noem’s proposal to require public schools to have a moment of silence to start the day.

The Republican governor first billed the proposal at a conservative Christian conference in Iowa last year as “putting prayer back in schools,” but a House committee rejected the idea after education groups argued that voluntary prayer is already allowed in schools and the proposed law would have saddled teachers with an unclear mandate. The Republican-dominated House Education committee rejected the bill on a nine to six vote, but it could still be revived with support from one-third of House members.

“Maybe it’s me, but I view prayer as something that is personal and not performative,” said Republican Rep. Will Mortenson, who criticized the bill as vaguely written.

Organizations representing schools and the teacher’s union asserted they had not been consulted by the governor’s office on the proposal and it would have added a vague and potentially unwieldy mandate to classrooms. An aide for the governor acknowledged to the committee that Noem’s office had not worked with school districts to craft the bill, but argued that 15 other states have enacted similar requirements and the moment of silence gave students an opportunity to focus before they start their day.

“This bill creates an affirmative opportunity for students to pray if they choose or to use their time quietly as they would otherwise see fit,” Allen Cambon, the governor’s policy advisor, told the committee. “Not only will this serve as a valuable learning opportunity, but it’s a chance to establish a sense of calm and decorum before students and teachers begin their busy day.”

The bill made it clear that schools could not use the time to conduct a religious exercise. But Noem, who is running for reelection and positioning herself for a 2024 White House bid, has in the past introduced religion-inspired ideas into public schools.

In 2019, she successfully required the national motto “In God We Trust” be displayed in all public schools, sparking a national debate and drawing criticism from groups that support the separation of government from religion.

Noem’s spokesman Ian Fury indicated Noem would continue to push the issue, saying she is “committed to protecting (the) First Amendment rights” of students.

This article originally appeared at APNews.com.

At March for Life, a Mix of Triumph and Apprehension

By

Jack Jenkins

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January 24, 2022

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Thousands of people gathered on the National Mall on Friday (Jan. 21) for the March for Life, an annual anti-abortion rally that took on a triumphant tone as attendees looked forward to a pending Supreme Court ruling with the potential to strike down Roe v. Wade and return control over abortion legislation to the states.

The speaker lineup for this year’s event, which was themed “Equality begins in the womb,” included an unusually robust array of elected officials — primarily Republicans.

High-ranking officials such as former President Donald Trump have addressed the rally in the past, but this year organizers opted for a large slate of legislators: One of the first presentations at the rally was a video featuring more than a dozen senators expressing opposition to abortion, including Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell, Shelley Capito, Mike Lee, Marsha Blackburn, Chuck Grassely, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

“We believe everyone is equally loved by God, and should be equally protected,” Sen. James Lankford said during the video. “That’s why we don’t give up. That’s why we march for life.”

The Oklahoma senator was also one of around 20 lawmakers who appeared onstage at the event, standing alongside Reps. Dan Crenshaw, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Andy Harris and Mike Kelly, among others.

Scenes from the annual March for Life, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

Rep. Julia Letlow of Louisiana, who worships at a congregation affiliated with the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, addressed the crowd directly in a speech. She said she used to pray by reciting Jeremiah 1:5 — “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you. Before you were born I set you apart” — while pregnant with her first child.

“I believe that the Lord makes that promise for every one of our lives, and every soul is precious in his sight,” she said.

Letlow expressed optimism for the upcoming ruling from the Supreme Court on Dobbs v. Jackson, an abortion case that could overturn or gut Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide. She expected a “monumental decision” from the justices this summer, she said, and thanked the crowd for their “faith and perseverance” in advocating against abortion.

Enthusiasm for the pending Supreme Court decision was a running theme among attendees. Gabriel Clyde, who traveled to Washington from New Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with a group affiliated with the Wesleyan Methodist Church, said he has attended the march for years because of his faith.

: Scenes from the annual March for Life, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

: Scenes from the annual March for Life, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

But 2022, he said, felt different.

“This is an exciting year,” he said. “This case in the summer is huge. We’ve spent a lot of time praying about it and trusting that things are going to change.”

Clyde was one of many march participants who signaled support for Trump, his head covered in a cap featuring the former president’s name above the words “He will be back.” Although Trump paraphernalia was less abundant than in 2020 — the last time the March for Life was convened in person — Trump flags and “Make America Great Again” hats could still be seen dotting the crowd.

Southern Baptist Church Conference’s Goal to Release ‘Young Lions’

By

Timothy Cockes

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January 24, 2022

MOBILE, Ala. (BP) Southern Baptist churches from across Mobile brought hundreds of students together Jan. 14-15 for the Young Lions Conference to focus on equipping and sending students to reach the city with the Gospel.

“It’s really about mobilizing our students with the Gospel and equipping them to personalize it and move forward in Gospel advancement. It starts back at Jesus’ command to make disciples, that’s the heartbeat of what we do,” said Cliff Downey, global student pastor and associate West Campus pastor at Redemption Church in Mobile. “It’s one thing to say you follow Jesus, and another thing to actually do what he commands.”

Held at the Mobile Convention Center, the theme of the conference was “Light Up the City,” meant to emphasize the importance of students living a Gospel lifestyle in their context.

The conference sessions featured times of worship and messages from evangelist Greg Stier, head of Dare2Share ministries, who challenged students to go out in groups into the city to share the Gospel during their breaks in the conference.

One of those who took part was Breyton Cornelius, a high school senior who attends Redemption Church in Mobile.

“It was definitely very eye-opening just to see how God moved not just in our youth group, but all the different youth groups that were there,” Cornelius said.

Cornelius and others from Redemption went into the city during the conference on Saturday and went back out on Sunday after the conference to have more Gospel conversations in the community.

“My cup is just overflowing now after the conference with my own fire for Christ. It was a big step in my faith, and I know it was for a lot of others as well,” he said, adding that he has continued to have Gospel conversations and pray for people he knows who need Jesus.

Redemption Church partnered with Wilmer Baptist Church and Dayspring Baptist Church to organize the conference.

Downey said the name of the conference was inspired by a concept from Francis Chan’s book “Letters to The Church.” Chan teaches that churches should not train their young “lions” to sit back, but to attack.

“That concept from Francis Chan started to resonate as a way to think about how to emphasize what we wanted to do in having our students take the city for the Gospel,” Downey said.

Around 450 students attended the conference, while the total number of attendees including staff and volunteers was more than 600.

Five local Southern Baptist churches participated in person, while many more church leaders and students watched the sessions online. Several students made professions of faith during the event.

For Cornelius, future plans include attending the University of Mobile this fall to play baseball and study exercise science. He wants what he experienced at the conference to continue to affect his future.

Satan Loves You to Do This

By

Julian Freeman

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January 24, 2022

thank you notes for children’s ministry volunteers

Want to know what Satan loves you to do–over and over and over?

Sometimes we do the things we hate. And sometimes we get confused and begin to hate ourselves for the things we’ve done.

There is a world of difference between ‘walking in the light’ while confessing our sins (1 John 1:7-10), and letting our sins define our identity. While it is appropriate to mourn our sin (Matt 5:4), it is not appropriate to hate ourselves.

In the heat of the moment of regret and shame, we can almost think that self-loathing is good and right and biblical (after all, we have offended a Holy God and become unclean!). But in truth, God never calls us to hate ourselves.

The truth is that God loves us (John 3:16, 1 John 4:10). And Satan loves you to hate yourself. The only one who loves our self-loathing is Satan.

Why Satan loves you to be filled with self-loathing…

1. Because when I loathe myself I loathe someone created in the image of God

Proverbs 17:5 says, ‘Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker.’ James writes that the tongue ‘is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so’ (James 3:8-10).

What I say about people, I say about God. This is true whether I am demeaning other humans or myself. Even inward self-loathing insults my Maker, in whose image I was created.

2. Because self-loathing diminishes my joy

Even in the middle of theological controversy, you can almost hear the joy in Paul’s voice when he reminds himself of the gospel: ‘I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20).

If I forget that the heart of the gospel is ‘the Son of God loved me and gave himself for me’ only to remember that I am worthy of being hated rather than loved, I will lose the joy of the gospel itself.

3. Because self-loathing diminishes the work of grace that God has done in my life

Making myself an object of contempt makes more of the sin that once defined me than the grace of God which has re-created me.

Paul writes of sinners who are defined by their sin outside of grace, and then adds: ‘And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God’ (1 Corinthians 6:11).

What I was once, I am not now. My sins do not define me; my reconciliation with God does. Hating myself makes little of that and gives Satan joy. Satan loves you to hate yourself.

How Teen Vaping, Alcohol Use and Drug Abuse Get Crushed by the Cross

By

Greg Stier

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January 24, 2022

Four years ago my son, Jeremy, woke me up in the middle of the night. He said, “Dad, I need to tell you something, Last school year I was vaping and, for a few months, I was going out drinking and getting drunk. There were also a few times I bought marijuana and got high. I haven’t done any of it for months, but I just had to come clean to you.”

Talk about a wake up call, a wake up call on so many levels.

I was shocked. My son had a solid Christian upbringing (not perfect, but solid.) He had been through countless Dare 2 Share events, the ministry I founded 30 years ago, from the time he was little. Jeremy had attended a good Christian school from the time he was in Kindergarten and, as far as I knew, he was seeking to honor God with his life.

But, during his Freshman year of high school, he had a whole array of secret sins that none of us knew about. And he was keeping those sins hidden away in the basement of our house, where his room was.

After he woke me up from a dead sleep and dropped the bomb on me, I asked him, “Jeremy, why are you telling me this now?” He just said, “Dad, I can’t take it anymore. I’m tired of hiding it. I’m tired of thinking about it. I can’t sleep at night and I keep thinking about it during the day. It is too much to take dad. I felt like I had to confess it to you.”

Jeremy came clean. I was glad for that. He hadn’t been caught. Nobody had turned him in. But, the Holy Spirit allowed him to be so convicted by his sins, he confessed them me.

I said, “Well Jeremy, there will be consequences for your actions, big ones. And the consequence starts right now. We need to wake up your mom and tell her.“

At the time, my wife, Debbie, was a full-time public school teacher. Many nights during the school year, she would fall asleep while grading papers in front of the fireplace downstairs. This was one of those nights.

Jeremy and I went downstairs and nudged her awake. Once she yawned, stretched, she looked at us and asked, “What’s going on?”

He broke the news to her.

Suffice it to say that it was a long night. My wife couldn’t have imagined in a thousand years her son would do something like this, right in our own house. And, to be honest, neither could I.

After all, I came from the streets. In my book Unlikely Fighter I chronicle much of my rough, urban upbringing. Suffice it to say, I did not live a sheltered life. I knew the temptations that were out there and how crafty sin-intent teens (and adults) could be. I was surprised that my own church-going, suburban son could pull a fast one on me, right under my nose, for so many months.

You need to also understand that I’m a consequence guy. From the time our kids were little we always sought to give an immediate consequence to any act of disobedience. When I counted, “1…2…3…4″ as a parent it wasn’t an idle threat. It represented the number of spankings my son or daughter would receive when they got home.

Jeremy knew this. He knew the consequences for this caliber of disobedience would be huge.

Jeremy was really nervous that we were going to tell the administrators of the Christian school he attended and that, as a result, he would be expelled. And his fear was not unfounded. I was really leaning toward telling the Christian school…and Jeremy knew it.

Again and again during his dark night of the soul, he begged his mother and I to tell him what the consequences were going to be, but I told him that we needed a few weeks to pray through and think about what to do.

We did. But, to be honest, I knew that waiting would be a consequence of sorts for him. I wanted to make him sweat it out a bit.

15 Signs You Were Raised in the Christian Subculture

By

Addie Zierman

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January 24, 2022

Tucked in a dark corner of our basement storage room, there is a big, clear Rubbermaid container stuffed with the artifacts of my youth. It’s so full that the lid doesn’t close all the way, which isn’t great. But still, I somehow managed to get it down to one box. That’s something. I went down and dug the whole thing out a few weeks ago. It occurred to me as I dug through the remnants of my own evangelical youth that there is an entire subset of us that operate from a distinct cultural plane. I’m talking about the children of the late ’70s, the ’80s, and early ’90s who were raised less in the fluorescence of American pop culture than in the soft glow of the Christian subculture.

Like our secular peers, we wore Zubaz, poet shirts and big, hot pink hair scrunchies…but we also wore Jesus fish charms, WWJD bracelets, and T-shirts with catchy Christian slogans–sure signs of we belonged to the Christian subculture.

We remember, of course, Ace of Base and New Kids on the Block, but our musical foundation was formed by Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, dc Talk, and the Newsboys. We were not allowed to buy those smutty teen magazines, so we were the ones who read Focus on the Family’s Brio and Breakaway instead.

So for all who spent their formative years straddling two cultures, a list: (Note: I realize this list is hopelessly skewed to the female experience. It’s because I’m a girl.)

You were raised in the Christian subculture if …

You had more than one Bible, at least one of them written specifically for “teens.” (Bonus points if the cover sported fluorescent colors and/or spiral shapes. Double bonus points if you ever wrapped one of said Bibles in duct tape to be “alternative.”)
You picked up the photo of a Compassion kid at some Christian concert with the best of intentions. (Your parents are still making that monthly donation.)
You were definitely raised in the Christian subculture if you ever thought about building that marble maze/pencil sharpening contraption from the beginning of the McGee and Me videos.
You signed up for Sound & Spirit Music Club, even though your parents warned you that you’d forget to send that Phillips, Craig, & Dean CD back and wind up paying for it. (Thanks to my friend Carra Carr for this one. For the record, she still has that CD.)
You ever participated in a “sword drill,” that intense competition to find a specific Bible verse faster than your Sunday school cohorts. You still find yourself stressed when asked by a pastor to locate the book of Hosea.
Your comics were judging your prayer life.
You learned about love from Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith duets. (“Somewhere, somehow, baby…”)
You learned about dating from the Christy Miller series. (Bonus points if you were successfully deterred from “missionary dating” by the whole Katie Weldon and Michael-from-Ireland train wreck. Double bonus points if you’ve ever said, “I’m just waiting for my Todd.”)
You can sing all the words to both dc Talk’s “Jesus Freak” and the Newsboys’ “Shine” and, if you were talented enough, could probably do them as a mash-up.
You ever wrote the following line in the front of your Bible: “Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth.”
You bolstered your commitment to sexual purity with any of the following: a purity ring, a True Love Waits pledge card, any book by Dr. James Dobson, or multiple repetitions of dc Talk’s song “I Don’t Want It” on youth group road trips. Triple bonus points if you too had this handy True Love Waits quote book.
You can still remember a good deal of Bible verses from your youth, but only if you sing them, Psalty-the-Singing-Songbook-style.
“The Cafeteria Lady” is not primarily the person who scoops mashed potatoes in the lunchroom, but rather a humor column in your old Christian teen magazine, Brio. (Fifty bonus points if you know the bitter disappointment of trying to become their teen spokeswoman “Brio Girl” and were rejected.)
You have “skanked” to the Christian ska band The W’s song “The Devil Is Bad” or the Supertones’ “Skallelujah.”
You ever stamped a Jesus fish emblem into a leather belt at summer Bible camp?

What about you? What would you add to the list?

10 Steps To Immediate Church Growth (That Most Churches Won’t Take)

By

James Emery White

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January 24, 2022

What if I gave you a list of 10 things that any church could do that would bring almost immediate church growth and renewal?

Would you be interested in the list?

Most say they would be, yet may resist these steps

10 Steps To Immediate Church Growth (That Most Churches Won’t Take)

1. Simplify

Simplify your structure by putting the authority to make most decisions related to the practice of ministry in the hands of those with responsibility. Translation: Let your leaders lead.

2. Go “Young”

Hire young, platform young, program young. Why? You attract who you platform, and most churches are growing old.

3. Go Contemporary

Become more contemporary in terms of music and graphics, décor and topics, website and signage. It’s 2022. (Really. You can check.)

4. Communicate!

Stop preaching and start communicating. There’s a difference.

5. Shift Outreach

Shift the outreach focus away from the already convinced toward those who are not. It’s called the Great Commission.

6. Children’s Ministry First

Prioritize your children’s ministry in terms of money and staffing, square footage and resources. Do you really not know, after all this time, that the children’s ministry is your most important ministry for outreach and growth?

7. Focus

“It’s the weekend, stupid.”

8. Spiritual Gifts

Help everyone find their spiritual gifts and then help them channel those gifts toward ministry.

9. Target men

Get the man, you tend to get the family.

10. Proclaim the full counsel of God

Without compromise or dilution. All you get with a watered-down message is a watered-down church. And a watered-down church has nothing to offer the world it does not already have.

Now, what if I told you that the vast majority of churches already know this list. Not only do they know the list, they would agree with most if not all of it. But they refuse to act on it. It’s true.

And the reason tends to be the same, in church after church, around the world: They don’t want to change.

Which brings up another list.

It’s the list of the seven last words of the church:

“We never did it that way before.”

Help! My Teen Is Abandoning Christ

By

John Piper

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January 23, 2022

What do you do when you fear your teenagers might be leaving Christianity? Today’s sobering question comes from a mother of a teenager, who asks this: “Hello, Pastor John. What would you do if your 14-year-old says she no longer wants to pray because she is no longer a Christian, doubts the existence of God and doubts that Christianity is better than any other religion? She considers the Bible to be true just for Christians, considers church not essential, but has to attend and attends politely because of being a part of a family that values God and the things of God. As parents, how do we proceed wisely?”

When Your Kids Say They Are Leaving Christianity

Maybe the most helpful thing I could do for any parent fearing their child might be leaving Christianity is recommend a book that meant a great deal to me at one point in my own parenting when one of my children was in exactly this situation. And the book is called Come Back, Barbara by John Miller and his daughter Barbara Juliani. I think his daughter was 18 when she ran away, moved out, got involved with a guy and wanted nothing to do with the family’s faith. The book describes what her parents felt and did, and then Barbara, who subsequently has returned, wrote responses to each of those chapters, which gives the book an unusual realism for how parental efforts were coming across.

Maybe the second best thing I could do is to point this mother to an article my son wrote back after that period of wandering, and we published it at Desiring God called “12 Ways to Love Your Wayward Child.” These are the things he felt were significant while he was on his departure. But here are my front burner thoughts on kids leaving Christianity for right now.

1. You Have No Control Over Your Child Leaving

Realize that your child leaving Christianity is something you utterly and totally have no control over. Faith is a gift of God. Perhaps a better way to say it would be that the eyes of her heart, not just the eyes of her head, must see Jesus as true and beautiful and desirable in order to be a Christian—and only God can open those eyes. That is the point of Ephesians 1:18. God does use parents and pastors and teachers and friends to point children to Christ, but none of that pointing is decisive. God is decisive. It is utterly crucial that you as a burdened parent not bear more than you should or can. That is number one.

2. Prayer Is Essential

Therefore, since only God can do this, prayer is absolutely essential and indispensable. I would suggest even building into your lives periodic times of fasting for your daughter and, perhaps, asking some of your friends to join you in that fasting and prayer. I still do this. To this very day I still do this for critical relationships in my own family.

3. Pray for Balance

One of the most essential things to pray for is the seemingly impossible balance between brokenhearted concern for your daughter and indomitable joy in the face of this suffering: joy and grace and power and goodness of God. I know this sounds impossible, because it is humanly impossible, but nothing is impossible with God (Matthew 19:26), and the goodness of God and the power of God in your life. That is what she needs, and she needs to see it. That is a miracle. And only God can help you do that.

7 Inspirational Leadership Lessons From Georgia Bulldogs Quarterback Stetson Bennett IV

By

Brian Dodd

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January 22, 2022

Stetson Bennett IV — Screengrab from Twitter

On Monday, January 10th the University of Georgia Bulldogs defeated the Alabama Crimson Tide 33 – 18 to win the NCAA football championship. The game’s most iconic moment was Bulldogs quarterback Stetson Bennett IV’s emotional reaction to the victory.

The following is a video of this moment followed by the inspirational leadership lessons we can take from the team’s on-field leader:

STETSON. BENNETT. THE FOURTH.

ANSWERED ALL THE DOUBTERS 🗣

pic.twitter.com/ZhYvghWBvE

— 247Sports (@247Sports) January 11, 2022

The Power Of Vision

You know a vision for your life or organization is real when you don’t have the vision, but the vision has you. Bennett’s father often tells the story of his 3-year old son saying he wanted to grow up and play quarterback at the University of Georgia. It was this clear and compelling vision that has carried Bennett thus far.

I wonder what happens to be next in his life?

Do you have a vision for your life or organization or does a vision have you? If not, ask God to give you one.

Great Talent Often Goes Unrecognized

If you feel invisible to those around you and that your contributions are being overlooked and don’t matter, Stetson Bennett IV should be an inspiration.

Bennett led Pierce County High School in Blackshear, GA to three consecutive state playoff appearances. In his senior year alone, he threw threw for 3,724 yards, ran for approximately 500 yards, and scored 40 total touchdowns. Yet, the two-star prospect did not receive a single scholarship offer from a SEC school.

The Power Of Passion

However, Bennett still had a burning desire to play quarterback for the Georgia Bulldogs. Playing for the Dogs was something he had to do and he would do everything within his power to make that dream become reality. He walked on to the team as a non-scholarship player in 2017.

The Power Of Persistence

Buried on the team’s depth chart, Bennett left after one year to play for the Jones College Bobcats, a junior college in Ellisville, MS. While there, led the team to a 10-2 record, the MACJC Championship game and a Mississippi Bowl win over Eastern Arizona. Bennett passed for 1,840 yards (12th, NJCAA) and 16 touchdowns.

Great Talent Is Often Undervalued

Even after a successful junior college season, Bennett was still rated a two-star prospect according to 247Sports. The following was his recruiting profile written by Charles Power, “Shorter quarterback who is listed under 6-feet. Has a naturally thin frame and has added some weight over the last few years and is likely maxed out in terms of manageable bulk… Lacks stature and has average arm strength. Was not super productive in junior college with a high interception rate and low yards per attempt. Projects as a backup quarterback who will provide depth at the Power 5 level.”

Kids Bible Games: The Ultimate List for Any Bible Lesson

By

ChildrensMinistry.com

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January 21, 2022

Need some new ideas for kids Bible games? Then these fun activities are just what you’re looking for. Use them at a special event or when a Sunday school lesson needs a boost.

These kids Bible games, which cover a variety of topics and seasons, also work well for children’s church, VBS, camp, small groups, and much more.

Children in your ministry will love (and learn from) all these kids Bible games. Enjoy!

Kids Bible Games for All Reasons & Seasons

10 Active Indoor Games

Help children work out the squirm and grow in their faith.

Best Bible-Racing Games

Wild and crazy games can lead to lots of learning!

Christmas Gift Wrap Race

This fun kids Bible game will help children get into the Christmas spirit.

Earthquake

Teach preschoolers about Paul and Silas.

Easter Ice Breaker

Help kids get to know one another. This game is ideal for Easter Sunday, when church attendance is typically high.

Easter Jelly Bean Walk

Play this musical Easter Jelly Bean Walk with colored jelly beans. It’s a fun way to remind kids of the Easter message.

A Somber Anniversary

By

Ed Stetzer

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January 21, 2022

January 22, 2022 marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. That’s right—it’s been almost half a century.

My hope is that we won’t mark the 50th anniversary next year, because Roe will be overturned. But there is still work to do.

I’ve been clear on my convictions about life: I’m unapologetically committed to valuing life from the womb to the tomb. I’ve spoken at March for Life rallies, because I believe the loss of many thousands of unborn children each year is a national tragedy.

Currently, there are a lot of moving parts in terms of legislation and judicial possibilities. But, still, this anniversary is an important reminder for us.

Justice Should Be for All.

Roe v. Wade demonstrates the sad fact that our nation sometimes says one thing but then does another. Our founders talked about the rights of all people. Yet life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, pledged to all in the Declaration of Independence, do not currently extend to the unborn. The sad reality is that those who are most defenseless often face the cruelest injustices.

While many of us have rightly engaged in conversations about issues like race in recent days, we must not lessen our cry for the unborn as well.

This has become a clear dividing line for many politically. In recent decades, the Democratic Party has increasingly emphasized abortion as a core issue. At the 1996 Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton said, “Abortion should not only be safe and legal, it should be rare.” But by the 2016 convention, the Democratic platform stated:

“We believe unequivocally, like the majority of Americans, that every woman should have access to quality reproductive health care services, including safe and legal abortion—regardless of where she lives, how much money she makes, or how she is insured” (2016 Democratic Party Platform [PDF], pg. 37, Securing Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice).

The “safe, legal, and rare” language changed to merely “safe and legal” in two decades. This strong stance for abortion in the Democratic Party explains how Joe Biden, the second Catholic president, now holds views on abortion that radically contradict the teachings of his church.

This demonstrates why so many of us who are evangelicals could not and would not support Biden. And, to be honest, it is hard to understand how pro-life evangelicals who voted for Biden now feel betrayed by him. Joe Biden is the most pro-abortion president in history—he ran that way and has governed that way. We need to say it clearly, because it is clear.

And, now, Republicans have a choice to make. For many, we have supported pro-life politicians when it was easy to be hypothetically pro-life. It is no longer hypothetical. When Roe is overturned, we will have work to do, and we will need to call on those who said they were pro-life to follow through.

Now, I know that at this point, people begin to find reasons to delay this conversation. The most common criticism of us who support life is, “Well, we are just pro-life when the baby is in the womb.” This argument is simply not true. Our Catholic friends have shown this for decades—Catholic Charities provides the largest non-governmental support for the poor in our country. Furthermore, evangelicals are involved in poverty work, adoption, and more.

‘Redeeming Love’ Movie Releases—But Should Christians Go See It?

By

Jessica Lea

-

January 21, 2022

Editor’s note: This article on “Redeeming Love” contains spoilers and makes references to sexual trauma that some may find triggering.

The film, “Redeeming Love,” which is based on the best-selling Christian novel of the same name, released today in theaters. Author Francine Rivers says her story demonstrates “the pursuing love that God shows to His people,” but some have voiced concerns about its sexual content, its depiction of God and the gospel, and its portrayal of sexual trauma.

“I want people to see that no matter what’s been done to us or the sins we commit, God loves us and offers us new life through Jesus,” Rivers told the Christian Post ahead of the film’s release. “We all have to make a choice. Surrendering to Jesus is the one decision that changes us from the inside out and sets us free to love as God loves us. I wanted viewers to see the difference between what the world says love is and what real love looks like.”

However, Christian author and theologian Phylicia Masonheimer believes that Christians should exercise caution with Rivers’ book and her film. “I really believe that there are some people who’ve been genuinely touched and healed in some ways by this book,” said Masonheimer in a recent episode of her podcast, Verity. “I don’t doubt at all that that has happened and that’s why I want to be gentle and careful in how I talk about this. However, when we recommend material like this with no caveat or context, we are potentially setting an enormous stumbling block in front of young women who are struggling with pornography, which is what erotica is. In ‘Redeeming Love,’ there is soft pornographic content.”

‘Redeeming Love’ Aims to Reveal the Love of God

Francine Rivers is a bestselling author who used to write erotic historical fiction before she became a Christian and started writing Christian romance novels. She published “Redeeming Love” in 1991, loosely basing it on the biblical book of Hosea, where God commands the prophet Hosea to marry a promiscuous woman named Gomer. Hosea must pursue even Gomer when she leaves him for other men, and his marriage mirrors God’s faithfulness to his covenant with the people of Israel, who repeatedly commit idolatry by worshiping other gods.

“Redeeming Love” is set in California in 1850 during the Gold Rush. The story follows a woman named Angel, the most sought-after prostitute in the town of Paradise, and Michael, a farmer who marries and loves her no matter what she does.

One point that should be noted up front is the movie portrays scenes of violence, both sexual and otherwise, that could be triggering to certain viewers. Angel, whose real name is Sarah, learns early in her life that men cannot be trusted. When she is a little girl, her maid tells her, “All men want to do is use you…None of them care.”

Angel’s life experience repeatedly confirms this statement. She is an illegitimate child of an abusive father who cuts Angel and her mother off. Angel’s mother turns to prostitution to survive and later dies of an illness while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. Because of this experience, Angel rejects God.

She then comes under the power of a man named Duke who sexually abuses and prostitutes her. In addition to sexual abuse, the trauma Angel experiences during her life includes sleeping with her own father, rape, being beaten and strangled, and enduring a forced abortion. This is not to mention the fact that people are constantly using her for their own ends. She ends up working under a different pimp, as well as a madam, in a brothel in Paradise.

In contrast, Michael Hosea is a hard-working farmer who is faithful to God and prays to him for a wife. After he sees Angel walking in the street one day, Michael believes God is telling him to marry her (something clearly spelled out in the novel). Michael pays to see Angel, but instead of sleeping with her, proposes to her. She refuses. He returns a second time, only to have her refuse again. He returns once more, arriving right after Angel’s pimp has beaten and presumably raped her. He asks her again to marry him. When she says, “Sure,” he pays to take her home to his farm.

Josh Duggar Requests New Trial After Being Convicted for Child Pornography

By

Dale Chamberlain

-

January 21, 2022

The defense team for former reality star Josh Duggar has requested that Duggar be acquitted or receive a new trial after his conviction on two counts related to child pornography. The defense is basing their request on the allegation that important evidence was withheld from the defense team until just before the trial.

In December, Duggar, 33, was found guilty on one count of receiving child pornography and one count of possessing child pornography. Now his defense is arguing that they were unfairly disallowed from bringing forward a key witness in Duggar’s trial. Duggar’s attorneys filed the motion on Wednesday.

During Duggar’s trial, his defense had argued that Duggar had been set up by a hacker, who accessed the computer to download child pornography on several occasions between May 14 and May 16, 2019. The defense had called a forensic investigator as a witness who characterized the incidents as a “hit and run” hacking scheme. Ultimately, the jury remained unconvinced by the possibility that someone other than Duggar could have downloaded the illegal content onto his computer and delivered a guilty verdict.

The witness that Duggar’s defense is now looking to is a former employee of Duggar’s, who is also a registered sex offender and who the defense contends used Duggar’s work computer regularly.

While federal officials had previously questioned and cleared the employee, the defense says that the former employee sent an “unprompted” email to prosecutors, saying that he had been “completely mistaken” when he told them that he hadn’t been at Duggar’s used car lot in Arkansas in May 2019. The email, which also contained travel receipts, placed the former employee in Arkansas from May 8 to May 11, which was several days before the illicit content was downloaded to Duggar’s computer.

The motion also alleged that this former employee had revealed to prosecutors that he possessed the passwords to several of the Duggar siblings’ social media accounts. The defense says that prosecutors had withheld this possibly exculpatory evidence until three days before the trial began. The defense’s case revolved around establishing that multiple people had access to Duggar’s work computer and passwords and that no sexually explicit content had been found on his personal devices.

“In this case, Duggar was deprived of materially exculpatory evidence until the evening before the Government rested its case,” Duggar’s defense attorneys said to Insider.

Duggar is currently incarcerated in the Washington County Jail as he awaits sentencing. While no sentencing hearing has been set, Duggar could face up to 40 years behind bars should his motion fail.

‘I Met Grief in the Fiercest Way,’ TobyMac Opens up About Truett’s Death

By

Jesse T. Jackson

-

January 21, 2022

Grammy Award winning Christian artist TobyMac (Toby McKeehan) recently sat down with 99.1 Joy FM to talk about the grief he has experienced after losing his first born son, Truett, in the fall of 2019. McKeehan and his wife Amanda have five children: Truett, Moses, Marlee, Leo, and Judah.

A vulnerable McKeehan sat on a dark set and shared candidly about how the death of his son has affected his life, saying, “Some days it hits you really hard and other days—I can’t say that it’s ever stayed off of me—but I can say it hasn’t beat me up some days.”

Truett died suddenly on October 23, 2019 from an accidental drug overdose at the age of 21. Hours later, his father released a statement about his son, sharing, ”My wife and I would want the world to know this…We don’t follow God because we have some sort of under the table deal with Him, like we’ll follow you if you bless us. We follow God because we love Him. It’s our honor. He is the God of the hills and the valleys. And He is beautiful above all things.”

“The truth is, I didn’t know grief really,” McKeehan told Joy FM. “I just felt like everything was beautiful and perfect until the last few years. And then when we lost Truett and everything changed, and I met grief in the fiercest way.”

Before Truett’s death, TobyMac was performing in Austin, Texas and was invited by someone he’d never met before to play his golf course. McKeehan, who is an avid golfer, said that the man shared with him that he had recently lost his son in a car accident. McKeehan recalls the man telling him, “When you go through something hard, you have to grab onto something that you can trust.”

The man called McKeehan after Truett’s death and told him that he needed to “grab onto a promise of God,” emphasizing that it must be “something God really promised us. Because when we’re in the darkest valley, we might grab onto something that God never promised us at all, [like] I shouldn’t be facing loss or God’s good and this shouldn’t be happening to me on earth.”

“God didn’t promise we wouldn’t face loss. God promised us that He would never leave us or forsake us,” the man’s wisdom continued.

“God doesn’t promise us He will take away the cold. He promises He will be right there in it with us,” McKeehan said. “That’s what I held on to, and I found Him there, or He found me there.”

A somber McKeehan told Joy FM that although he began to laugh some the first week after Truett’s death, he doesn’t believe he’ll ever laugh the way did before his son’s sudden passing. “I don’t know if I’ll ever smile as big—but I can smile and I can laugh,” McKeehan said. It may not be until McKeehan is face to face with Jesus before those things fully return.

Stampede at Christian Ceremony in Liberia Kills 29 People

By

Jonathan Paye-Layleh

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January 21, 2022

MONROVIA, Liberia (AP) — At least 29 people in Liberia, including 11 children and a pregnant woman, have died in a stampede of worshippers at a Christian ceremony in a densely populated area of the capital, Monrovia, officials said Thursday.

The stampede erupted when a gang of thugs armed with knives attacked some of the hundreds attending the ceremony at about 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, police spokesman Moses Carter told The Associated Press.

One person has been arrested, he said. The Rev. Abraham Kromah who was holding the ceremony and who runs a church in the New Georgia township of Monrovia was also brought in for questioning about the incident, police said.

The bodies have been taken to the morgue of Redemption Hospital, close to where the incident occurred in a beach area called New Kru Town.

The Red Cross has erected tents near the site for families to come in with photos to identify the bodies of their loved ones.

Street gangs have become an increasing problem in Monrovia and other Liberian cities in recent years, according to residents.

Liberian President George Weah visited the scene Thursday and declared three days of national mourning.

“Moving forward,” he said there should be regulations on how these ceremonies, which Liberians call crusades, are conducted. The measures, he said, should limit the number of people who can attend based on the size of the crusade grounds.

Even though “we all are religious people,” everyone should be willing to comply with these regulations for safety reasons, he added.

This article originally appeared here.

WATCH LIVE: Thousands Flood to Washington, D.C. to March for Life

By

ChurchLeaders

-

January 21, 2022

Thousands of people have descended on the nation’s capital today for the 49th annual March for Life — an enormous rally in Washington, D.C. advocating for the lives of the unborn.

Faithwire senior writers Billy Hallowell and Tré Goins-Phillips are at the rally and will be
hosting live coverage for CBN News, which you can watch below, beginning at 12:00 p.m.:

What’s the Schedule?

The March for Life Rally begins at 12:00 p.m. and will feature the following speakers:

Actor Kirk Cameron
Rep. Julia Letlow (R-La.)
Relationship Matters founder Toni McFadden
“Duck Dynasty” star Lisa Robertson
“Bible in a Year” podcast host Father Mike Schmitz
Down syndrome advocate Katie Shaw
Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.)
Christendom College student George Schuberg
Alliance Defending Freedom Attorney Kristen Waggoner
Registered nurse Rachel Young

Immediately after the one-hour rally, the march to the U.S. Supreme Court building will begin.

CBN’s Faithwire team will bring live coverage of the march, from start to finish, with interviews featured throughout the event.

What Else?

March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told Faithwire she is expecting some 100,000
demonstrators to show up for the March for Life, describing 2022 as “a banner year” for the pro-life cause.

“I haven’t seen the enthusiasm of the movement as it is now ever in my lifetime,” she said.

“Especially with the Supreme Court case Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, I think that pro-life America is excited and they see a very important and real victory within reach. No one knows the future, but the excitement is palpable. So I think the March for Life this year is a banner year.”

The theme for this year’s March for Life is “Equality Begins in the Womb.”
Mancini said the leadership team chose the theme “because equity and equality is something that’s getting a lot of conversation and it is important, but we wanted to insert into that conversation the unborn child.”

With that in mind, Mancini said she is particularly eager to hear from Katie Shaw, an Indiana woman who has Down syndrome and whose parents chose life over abortion.

“There’s a whole population of unborn children that are disproportionately targeted for abortion, and those are ones who receive a Down syndrome positive test,” Mancini said. “Katie received such a test…but her life has no less dignity or beauty than mine or yours and so we’re very excited to hear Katie share her testimony.”

LIVE coverage of the March for Life will begin at 12:00 p.m.

On Eve of March for Life, Catholic Abortion Rights Advocates Counterprotest Pro-Life Vigil

By

Jack Jenkins

-

January 21, 2022

march for life catholics for choice — Messages voicing support for abortion rights are projected onto the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2021. The messages were part of a protest staged by the liberal advocacy group Catholics for Choice. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

WASHINGTON (RNS) — The liberal group Catholics for Choice staged a protest outside the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Thursday evening (Jan. 20), projecting messages in support of abortion rights onto the building’s walls as an anti-abortion vigil was in progress inside.

Members of Catholics for Choice assembled near the basilica ahead of the protest, which occurred the evening before the March for Life, a massive annual anti-abortion rally in Washington. Shortly before they began the demonstration — which organizers said was conducted with a permit — the group’s president, Jamie Manson, led them in prayer.

“God of compassion, be present to all who have had abortions, may they feel your love,” she said. “Be with all abortion providers, may they be safe. Sustain them with your comfort, and your courage.”

She also prayed for those who would participate in the March for Life, asking God that “they listen to the voices of those who have had or provide abortions.”

Messages voicing support for abortion rights are projected onto the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., Thursday, Jan. 20, 2021. The messages were part of a protest staged by the liberal advocacy group Catholics for Choice. RNS photo by Jack Jenkins

The group then used a projector to illuminate the facade of the basilica across the street with slogans such as “Pro-choice Catholics you are not alone,” “Stop stigmatizing; Start listening” and “Mi cuerpo, mi decision” — “my body, my decision” in Spanish.

Another image emblazoned the words “Pro-choice Catholics” on a Christian cross, and another declared “1 in 4 abortion patients is Catholic” — a reference to a 2016 Guttmacher Institute report that found 24% of women who procure abortions identify as Catholic.

Reached for comment Friday morning about the protest, representatives for the Basilica provided a statement from Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who oversees the Archdiocese of Washington and chairs the Basilica’s board.

“The true voice of the Church was only to be found within The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception last evening,” the statement read. “There, people prayed and offered the Eucharist asking God to restore a true reverence for all human life. Those whose antics projected words on the outside of the church building demonstrated by those pranks that they really are external to the Church and they did so at night – John 13:30.”

The protest also stoked reaction on social media, with San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone quote-tweeting a picture of the protest with the words: “The attempted desecration is enormous. Diabolical. Mother Mary, pray for them, now and at the hour of death. Amen.”

Cordileone, a known conservative among U.S. bishops, has suggested denying Communion to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights — including President Joe Biden — while invoking the Catholic Church’s longstanding opposition to abortion. The issue became a subject of heated disagreement among bishops as they debated a document on the Eucharist throughout 2021, with some mentioning Biden by name. The final document, approved in November, did not single out politicians.

Despite the controversy, when Biden met with Pope Francis last year, the president said the pontiff told him he is a “good Catholic” who should continue to take Communion.

Catholics for Choice members stood quietly during their protest on Thursday, some holding electric candles and sharing texts from friends praising their activism. Inside the basilica — the largest Catholic house of worship in North America — people participated in the National Prayer Vigil for Life, a few trickling in and out as the protest continued.

Minutes after turning on the projector, a man wearing a red, white and blue scarf approached the group and began yelling, saying, “There’s no such thing as a pro-choice Catholic!” After he noted the Catholic Church’s opposition to abortion, he declared: “Pro-choice Catholics are going to hell.”

When protesters quietly offered to pray with him, he rebuked them, saying, “Why would I pray with you? You’re not Catholic.” A short while later, after he was approached by police and security personnel, he walked away.

In an interview with Religion News Service, Manson noted that a majority of U.S. Catholics — 55% according to Pew Research — believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. In addition, a 2019 Pew survey found that an even greater majority of Catholics (68%) do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Lifeway Research: Men Play Significant Role in Decisions Surrounding Unplanned Pregnancies

By

Aaron Earls

-

January 21, 2022

While much of the discussion surrounding abortion focuses on women, unplanned pregnancies involve both a man and a woman. And the men involved have complicated feelings on the subject.

A new Care Net study conducted by Nashville-based Lifeway Research surveyed 1,000 American men whose partners had an abortion after he made her pregnant and who knew about the pregnancy prior to the abortion.

The study reveals men with pregnant partners play a significant role in the decision to have an abortion but may not be aware of how much influence they have.

“In 2015, when we surveyed women who had an abortion, they indicated men were the most influential factor in their decision,” said Roland Warren, president and CEO of Care Net. “Care Net recognized that despite this influence, the role of men had not yet been explored. This new study directly examines their feelings and experiences when the decision to have an abortion was made.”

Behind the Decision

Initially, the men were conflicted about the pregnancy. When asked about their emotions when they found out their partner was pregnant, around half (53%) say they were nervous, and 42% were scared. Still, 30% were happy about the pregnancy, and 28% were excited. Far fewer say they were indifferent (15%), embarrassed (14%) or angry (14%).

In making their decision, 42% of men whose partners had an abortion say they encouraged the woman to do so, with 12% saying they strongly urged her to do so. Around 3 in 10 (31%) say they didn’t give any advice. More than 1 in 4 (27%) say they advised their partner not to have an abortion, including 8% who strongly urged her to not go through with it.

Among those who encouraged their partner to have an abortion, men say finances played the primary role, but other factors contributed to their wanting their partner to have an abortion. Almost half (46%) say they and their partner couldn’t afford a child at that time, while 29% say there were already enough kids in the picture.

Around a quarter of men who advocated for an abortion point to relationship issues between them and their partner, as 24% say they didn’t expect the relationship to be long-term, and 23% say there was conflict in the relationship.

Other reasons are focused more directly on the concerns of the man. Almost 2 in 5 (39%) say they were not ready to be a father, 17% say they hadn’t completed their education, 17% say they didn’t want others to know she was pregnant and 14% didn’t want to pay child support.

“Many abortions occur because men are urging their partner to terminate the pregnancy,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of Lifeway Research. “However, around 3 in 10 men give their partners no advice even in situations where she discusses the decision with him.”

Pope Vows Justice for Abuse Victims After Ratzinger Faulted

By

Nicole Winfield

-

January 21, 2022

FILE - Pope Francis, right, hugs Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI prior to the start of a meeting with elderly faithful in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. A long-awaited report on sexual abuse in Germany’s Munich diocese on Thursday faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI’s handling of four cases when he was archbishop in the 1970s and 1980s. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis vowed Friday to provide justice to victims of clergy sexual abuse and German authorities called for further investigation after an independent audit faulted retired Pope Benedict XVI for having botched four cases of abuse when he was archbishop of Munich, Germany.

The fallout from the report continued to reverberate Friday as church officials digested the findings that a pope credited with having turned the Vatican around on the abuse issue had in fact mishandled cases earlier in his career.

One day after the report’s release, Francis met with the members of the Vatican office that handles sex abuse cases in a previously scheduled audience. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith was headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for nearly a quarter-century before he became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

In his speech, Francis didn’t refer to the findings of the report into how the Munich archdiocese handled abuse cases from 1945 and 2019. Ratzinger was archbishop there from 1977-1982.

But Francis said the church was continuing to discern the way forward in the abuse scandal, which has discredited the Catholic hierarchy at the Vatican and around the world.

“The church, with God’s help, is carrying out the commitment with firm determination to do justice to the victims of abuse by its members, applying with particular attention and rigor to the canonical legislation envisaged,” Francis told the group.

He recalled he had recently updated the Vatican norms to handle abuse cases to make them more effective.

“This alone cannot be enough to stem the phenomenon, but it is a necessary step to restore justice, to repair scandal and reform the offender,” he said.

The German report prepared by an independent law firm found that Ratzinger mishandled four cases of abusive clergy during his tenure as archbishop. Until Thursday, only one known case implicating his Munich tenure had been made public; the report found that the church’s claim that Ratzinger was unaware of the priest’s background lacked credibility.

Prosecutors in Munich said Friday they are examining 42 cases of possible wrongdoing by church officials arising from Thursday’s report. Spokesperson Anne Leiding told German news agency dpa that the cases were referred to them by the law firm that prepared the report last year.

If any suspicion of “possible criminally relevant behavior” emerges from the examination, Leiding said, prosecutors will seek further details from the law firm.

The law firm said on Thursday that the cases involve living officials who are still in office.

Why Satan loves you to be filled with self-loathing…

1. Because when I loathe myself I loathe someone created in the image of God

2. Because self-loathing diminishes my joy

3. Because self-loathing diminishes the work of grace that God has done in my life

You were raised in the Christian subculture if …

10 Steps To Immediate Church Growth (That Most Churches Won’t Take)

1. Simplify

2. Go “Young”

3. Go Contemporary

4. Communicate!

5. Shift Outreach

6. Children’s Ministry First

7. Focus

8. Spiritual Gifts

9. Target men

10. Proclaim the full counsel of God

When Your Kids Say They Are Leaving Christianity

1. You Have No Control Over Your Child Leaving

2. Prayer Is Essential

3. Pray for Balance

The Power Of Vision

Great Talent Often Goes Unrecognized

The Power Of Passion

The Power Of Persistence

Great Talent Is Often Undervalued

Kids Bible Games for All Reasons & Seasons

Justice Should Be for All.

‘Redeeming Love’ Aims to Reveal the Love of God

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What Else?

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