I recently read an article by Gordon MacDonald called “Questions I’d Ask Before Following Jesus” that reminded me of this important issue for someone who is interested in becoming a Christian. Having been a fan of discipleship and Christian growth for three decades, I have seen plenty of people get started in their relationship with [...]

I read a lecture by Stephen Hawking about Space and Time Warps. It’s not that I had extra time on my hands (no pun intended) but because of a comment on my post regarding Blind Faith or Logical Reasons to Believe God Exists. His comment was that the laws of physics break down prior to [...]

The drought in Atlanta brought out people of faith to the capital steps to pray for rain. Across the street, the Freethought Society protested. I remembered from school, America stood for freedom of religion, but today it is being reinterpreted to mean freedom from religion, like religious expression should never be in the public arena. [...]

I just read a Bill Easum article about how to grow a church with less than 500 in worship (this also was sent out through the RASNet.org newsletter). Here is an excerpt:  

You want to know the most important ingredient for growing a small church? It’s a pastor who has one-on-one conversations with non-Christians that leads [...]

If we are to believe the media, atheism appears to be taking the offensive. “We’re good people, we’re just not God people.” Sounds like positive PR. According to the Barna Group, over 81 percent of Americans claim to pray at least weekly, which means to me that for people to pray, they must pray to or believe in some [...]

Results of a LifeWay survey of 2000 adults — “Top 10 Issues Facing Today’s Family”
Click on the first phrase to read the desired article.
 
10. Materialism:  ”Placing high regard to ownership and consumption as a priority.”
9. Balance of Work and Family: “Pressure to invest energy in work at the expense of family.”
8. Negative Media Influence: “Influx of destructive images and [...]

Philip Yancey has written a thought-provoking book (about 20 years ago) called Disappointment With God that asked the questions: Is God unfair? Is God silent? Is God hidden?  
 
I suppose that disappointment in anything comes to us when there is a gap between our expectations and reality. If we have the expectation that God should act [...]

When I taught at Hargrave Military Academy, one of my students in the Bible class brought to my attention a site he found that mocked prayer and the existence of God by appealing to the readers as educated and intelligent people who, if they were honest, must come to the same conclusion as him, that [...]

I recently read a great article by Dallas Willard regarding the issue of discipleship (I also found the article at metamorpha.com and worship.com). He challenges the modern idea that we can be “vampire Christians” like saying to Jesus… I’d like a little of Your blood, please, for salvation, but I do not care to be your student or [...]

I was reminded of a fascinating book by John Piper called, Let the Nations Be Glad: The Supremacy of God in Missions. He begins this intriguing book discussing the relationship between missions and worship, two topics very dear to my heart.  
 
Piper says, “Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists [...]