Visiting the Sick: How We Participate In Our Own Salvation by Andrew Thompson

Around the time the Methodist revival in England completed its first decade, John Wesley penned an essay called A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists. His aim is to explain the Methodist movement to the larger world, which he does by describing the various internal components of the revival that had developed during Methodism’s first ten years. One of

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Becoming My Prayers by Kimberly Reisman

I frequently lead workshops on prayer, which I always find kind of odd because I’ve never felt myself to be much of an expert on that kind of thing. Prayer is hard work for me; it’s meaningful, but it’s hard. During my workshops I always focus at some point on intercessory prayer – prayer for needs beyond our own –

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Songs For Sinners by Ellsworth Kalas

Charles Wesley wrote songs for sinners. For those who were lost in sin, his hymns promised salvation, and for those who had come to Christ they were hymns that celebrated the day when it happened… These hymns are as true as ever and it is only our spiritual and doctrinal naivete that keeps us from seeing it.

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Staying Out Of Trouble by Davis Chappell

Acts 17:16-34 contains Paul’s message to the Athenians at the Areopagus. Athens was considered the intellectual capital of the world. It was home to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Paul came to Athens during his second mission trip, seeking refuge. Earlier, he had been run out of Thessalonica by the synagogue crowd. He found a more congenial reception in Beroea, until

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Christianity With A Wesleyan Accent: Wesleyan Discipline by Kevin Watson

The good news is that we already have a basic blueprint for how to help people embrace faith in Jesus and become his apprentices. Methodist discipline, or the method that gave Methodism its name, was focused on helping people become deeply committed Christians, to become mature followers of Jesus Christ … The biggest challenge contemporary Wesleyans may face is our

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Searching For Easter by Bill McAlilly

This is a portion of the sermon preached on December 27, 2013, at the funeral service for Bishop McAlilly’s nephew Gale Stauffer, who was killed in the line of duty December 23, serving on the Police Force of the city of Tupelo, Mississippi. … little did we know that on this day of days, we would find ourselves moving so

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Beforehand Grace by Bryan Collier

Prevenient grace does not depend on any power or merit in man; no, not in any degree, neither in whole, nor in part. It does not in any wise depend either on the good works or righteousness of the receiver; not on anything he has done or anything he is. It does not depend on his endeavors. It does not

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Want To Know More About John Wesley? by Andrew Thompson

I received an e-mail from a pastor in Tennessee a few days ago posing this question: A church member asked me to recommend a biography on John Wesley, and I didn’t know what to suggest. Wondering if you could suggest something? That’s not an infrequent request to get for a seminary professor who teaches Methodist history. When I get an

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How We Die by Elizabeth Glass Turner

I was thirty-two years old when a woman took my advice on how to die. Sitting in her low living room banked with windows that overlooked butterfly-laden bushes, I watched her shallow breaths. She had lost strength and energy: her frame seemed diminished, as if her soul were clinging to her body by mere tendrils. While disease sapped her vitality,

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I Am Who The I AM Says I Am (Part 2) by Dave Smith

What is our cosmology? When my son Joshua was very young and I would put him to bed at night, he would say this, “Daddy, tell me a story. BUT make sure to get me into it.”  We are indeed people of story. But first and foremost, we need an orienting story. A compelling story from which to stand and gaze

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Make Disciples Who Will Make Disciples by Maxie Dunnam

Many local churches I know have as a part of their mission statement, We need to be deliberate in our churches in “making disciples  who will make disciples.” It rolls off our tongues so easily, but is demanding in actualizing. As I insisted in my last article, we must nurture and cherish the bond between word and deed, ideas and

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I Am Who The I AM Says I Am (Part 1) by Dave Smith

Being retired from Indiana Wesleyan University means I no longer need to prepare 12 lectures a week or to lead faculty meetings or solve student issues as an administrator. Now, I have time to read for leisure.  The second-best book that I have read this year was Boys in the Boat.   A Riveting Read: Boys in the Boat Boys

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Hope: The Singers of Life by Kim Reisman

Scripture Focus: Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Hebrews 10:23-24 (NLT) This month we will focus on the theological virtue of hope. Faith and hope are intimately linked in the

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Evangelism And Discipleship by Maxie Dunnam

Share the post: Georgia Harkness was once considered one of our most outstanding theologians. She was certainly a brilliant thinker and spoke prophetically to the church. Here is such a word: “We must rescue evangelism from the red-light district of the ecclesiastical community.” That’s putting it unquestionably straight. Evangelism has been prostituted for money and personal gain. That’s the reason

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A Prophet Present Among Them by Maxie Dunnam

   Share the post: This is the season in many denominations when changes take place in clergy leadership. I’m in a good bit of conversation with clergy and lay leadership about the nature of ordained ministry. I urge clergy and lay leadership to read and consider chapter 2 of Ezekiel as a part of the experience of “clergy appointment.”  A

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Life Beyond The Headlines by Joseph Seger

Share the post: Don’t believe the story.  So went the surprising proclamation of DL Moody – Some day you will read in the papers that D.L. Moody of East Northfield, is dead. Don’t you believe a word of it! At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now; I shall have gone up higher, that is all,

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Falling From Grace? by Maxie Dunnam

Share the post: It may not be good writing or even good grammar, but I deliberately put a question mark after the title of this article, Falling from Grace? This is a follow-up to my last article where I also put a question mark in the title Once saved always saved? Oh! Both, “falling from grace,” and “once saved always

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The Good Fruit of Faith by Kim Reisman

Share the post: Scripture Focus: A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil

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Once Saved Always Saved?

In my last three articles I have discussed assurance and sanctification. These aspects of salvation lead us to think about what separates a Methodist understanding from those who believe in eternal security. Once saved, always saved was a theme I was asked often about in the first churches I served in rural Mississippi. We Methodist Wesleyans believe that it is

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