By establishing the habits of observing other people’s sufferings, of taking time to notice the pain and fear around them, we teach our children a genuinely Christian ethic. And in this, my hope is that they become adults who care about justice and equality for everyone. My hope in conversations like this is to sensitize my children to the lived
Following Jesus is always easier when there are angels around. We have a significant spiritual experience. We make a commitment. We’re bold and excited. We think, I can do this. I believe this.
There may be others around us who are feeling that same way. They’ve taken on a new spiritual challenge. Made a new commitment. Maybe even their initial
One of the things that I love most about God is how God can take our small efforts, the things in our life that we don’t believe are good enough, and make them truly amazing. He can take our small, human efforts, and perform divine miracles with them. He can make the impossible, possible. Listen to what happens in John 6:
It’s so easy to forget. It’s so easy to lose touch with the source of life…how we got to where we are; all the blessing that have been poured out upon us. It’s easy to think that we are where we are today because of our own efforts.
As in every age, there is a need to speak truth to power. There is a need to reflect Jesus into the lives of others. There is a need for Christians everywhere to more fully become Godbearers, making the kingdom life visible, tangible and real.
The land where I did not want to be was becoming the land of my blessing.
In 1903, Evan Roberts was 25 years old. He was a Christian, coal miner, and student who began to pray for God to fill him with the Holy Spirit. In the midst of this season of prayer, Roberts found himself at an evangelistic event where a man named Seth Joshua was preaching. Roberts heard Joshua pray, “Lord, bend us,” and
Lead Like Butler: Six Principles for Values-Based Leaders is a good read in which authors Kent Millard and Judith Cebula define six dimensions of what Butler University athletes call “The Butler Way.” Being a former basketball player and serious sports fan, the nomenclature “The Butler Way” has caught my imagination. Indeed this concept has inspired the North Alabama Conference Leadership Team
Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks to the Holy One Give thanks because he’s given Jesus Christ, his Son. It’s November and Thanksgiving is almost upon us. On Facebook, 30 Days of Thankfulness is in full swing. Each day, participants in the 30 Day Challenge use their status to record something in their life for which they are
Today we ask our World Methodist Evangelism partners to come alongside us in prayer for New Zealand and Haiti. While much of recent news has focused on American politics, we want to remember those affected by natural disasters in the past couple of months.
Recently, I’ve somewhat been on a purging binge (note that I love a good oxymoron) and going through the many boxes I have in storage labeled with the words, “Carrie’s Mementos.” I hate to admit that I was on a fast track to be featured on a cable show about people who collect a lot of stuff and I’m pretty sure
John of Damascus grounds the making of image in the incarnation (the “taking on flesh”) of Jesus Christ, who “married” heaven and earth through the union of God and man. If the God-Man Jesus is the “express image” of God, as Hebrews 1:3 says, then the artist is free to express himself creatively, using the material of the world to
In the midst of an extraordinary amount of stone-throwing and name-calling from across the political and theological spectrum, the Church in North America has shuddered and shaken from its timbered ceiling (or its artfully exposed industrial lighting) to its hallowed stone foundation (or tiled coffee house floor). (Astute readers perhaps will have noticed the use of the capitalized word “church”
The redeemed, the serene, the peaceful ones who are reconciled with God will find our God-aimed identity not in what we buy, accumulate, save, or consume, but in how we give.
Grace is not a one-time thing. God doesn’t just see our sins, forgive us one time, and then choose to be done with us forever. No, God constantly gives us grace. God gives us grace to forgive us, He gives us grace to empower us, He gives us grace to lead us. For us, and for the world, grace is
I contend that when people come together without anger and with love and “life together” as the end goal, churches will be healthier and people will find that they have more in common.
The apostles don’t see themselves as CEOs or slaves to the church. They see themselves as fulfilling a specific duty for the church: the ministry of the word of God and prayer. Everything else was dropped from their plate. And not only did the church not look down on them or call them lazy for a desire to emphasize these
Through Christ, we have been set free. Think about what it means not just to be free but also to live in freedom. It is possible to be free but to still live as if you aren’t…
As this man did, you will discover that God’s Word will be fulfilled. Regardless of what others may offer, stay in tune to the words of Jesus. There may be delays, some disappointments, but the promises of God will come to pass. The key is, whose voice are you listening to?
What does it take to be a nimble follower of Jesus Christ? Describing yourself as “nimble” (“quick,” “light,” “quick to comprehend”) may not be a trendy way to phrase a quality – I doubt I’ll see it on any t-shirts soon, unless it becomes a merchandised quote from a quirky show – but followers of Jesus Christ are called to be
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