Fruitfulness in God’s Kingdom Takes This Uncomfortable Step
For a time, I worked as a berry farmer. I have some advice for you: If you are going to grow berries, do not start with blackberries. Growing them is extremely labor-intensive. You have to set up a trellis system with two wires and place a berry plant every six feet, next to a pole....
Curtis Sergeant
Bible Interpretation Is Closer Than You Think – Q&A with Orpheus J. Heyward
*Editor’s Note: The Bible has been subject to some wild misinterpretations. And yet some of the basic tools which would help us interpret the Bible accurately are tools we use every day in other areas of our lives. In order to interpret the Bible accurately, we need to be able to incorporate these commonsense tools...
Orpheus J. Heyward
The Equality Act: The Background, Battle, and Our Beliefs
The Equality Act passed the US House of Representatives on February 25, 2021, and is on its way to the Senate. What is the Equality Act? And why should disciples of Jesus pay attention? In this article, we will discuss the background of the bill, the current battle that centers on the bill, and how...
Renew.org
The Truth Is Better Than My Truth (Because It’s True!)
You may have heard these popular statements: “Go live your truth,” “You do you,” “I’m speaking my truth,” “She’s being authentic to her truth.” Have you ever thought about what these statements really mean? We live in a world where objective truth is on the chopping block. Objective truth is defined as truth that is...
Holli Turner
Want to Do Something Eternal? Do Kids Ministry.
Outside of sitting in rows of bright red carpet-padded chairs each with loose faux wood armrests, I don’t remember much about my 3rd grade Sunday school class. We had the occasional “Sword Drill” which pitted each of us against one another to see who could flip through their Bible the fastest to locate whatever verse...
Daniel Koch
Losing My Faith in Progressive Christianity: Revelation, Rapture, and Kirk Cameron Eschatology (Part 2)
*Editor’s Note: This is Part 2 in a series on leaving progressive Christianity by Dave Stovall, worship leader and former lead singer of Wavorly and band member of Audio Adrenaline. He describes how his journey into progressive Christianity left him dissatisfied and how he found the road to a more sustainable, faithful faith. Here’s Part...
Dave Stovall
How Should a Disciple of Jesus View the Environment?
One aspect of God that I think we often forget is His creativity. As far as we know, He didn’t create the universe because He needed to; He did it because He wanted to. In the account of creation, we see how God enjoyed creating. He could have made the world a blank box void...
Taffeta Chime
How I Went from Atheist to Bible Believer
Making an Atheist I grew up in a church that encouraged me to become an atheist. I didn’t leave Christianity because of any moral objections or being hurt by a church. I left because of that church’s grounding for its faith. They offered an apologetics class where the teacher very confidently explained many geological, cosmological,...
Jonathan Ciecka
A Resilient Church in a Cancel Culture
There’s a joke that’s told about a couple of hunting buddies who are walking along outside when one of them collapses to the ground and goes motionless. When his friend discovers that he’s stopped breathing, he calls 911 and says, “My friend just died! What do I do?” The operator answers, “Calm down. First, what...
An Invitation to Come in Out of the Dark
As a little kid my older siblings and I would watch scary television shows and movies and–you’ll never believe it–I was scared of the dark. In fact, I slept with the closet light on until I was in the eighth grade because I was convinced evil things lived under my bed and waited in the...
Christine Davis
What Makes Life Meaningful? Reflections on Disney’s “Soul”
What makes life meaningful? What is worth doing during our time on this earth? How do our talents relate to our identity? As a young, recently-graduated-from-college adult, I’ve spent a lot of time asking questions like these. The transition period between adolescence and adulthood seems like a fitting season for such existential ponderings. When the...
Nathan Storms
When You Worry, Remember God Is at Work
“Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing?” (Matthew 6:25, CSB). Jesus tells us that if we love Him then we should follow His commands. In...
William Butt
What’s So Important about Context? – Q&A with Orpheus J. Heyward
*Editor’s Note: One of the fastest ways to misinterpret Scripture is to read it without paying attention to context. I recently caught up with Dr. Orpheus J. Heyward, a minister, scholar, and teacher of Bible interpretation (hermeneutics) to get his thoughts on ways we can interpret the Bible accurately and faithfully. Q: In 2 Timothy...
Orpheus J. Heyward
Why Humans?
To understand the purpose of humans, we should first understand God’s intent for creating them in the first place. God’s creation story is littered with clues about his reasons for creating humans. God is good, and His creation is good. We cannot escape these twin truths when we approach the Scriptures with open eyes. So...
Daniel C. Berk
On Gender and the Bible: What Does It Mean to Be a Man or Woman? (Part 10)
This is Part 10 in our series exploring what the Bible says about gender. Here are Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9. There is likely no more loaded question these days than this: What does it mean to be a man or a woman? As Peter Kreeft aptly noted, masculinity and femininity have been reduced from...
Renée Sproles
If Stonehenge Is Proof of Ancient Wisdom, What Does the Universe Prove?
While recovering from the Coronavirus, I watched a documentary about Stonehenge, the architectural mystery and astronomical wonder located eight miles north of Salisbury, England. It’s estimated that around 1600 B.C., ancients hauled massive rock pillars to that location from Southwest Wales and positioned them in two concentric circles around the center of the site. There...
Bob Russell