Is Ascension Day the Fifth Christian Holy Day? Celebrate Jesus’s Return to Heaven, Which Prepares the Way for Pentecost In my post The Four Main Christian Celebrations, I list for holy days (holidays) that smartly recognize Jesus and succinctly...
Successfully Melding Contemporary and Traditional This church’s Facebook page—they have no website—says their “services are informal with a blend of hymns and contemporary music.” I expect service melding contemporary and traditional aspect of...
The Second Best Verse in the Bible Perhaps the best-known verse in the Bible is John 3:16. It says that if we believe in Jesus we will experience life eternal. What could be simpler; we just need to believe. God does the hard part, providing a...
Are You At the End of Your Rope? Imagine you are going down the side of a 200-foot cliff—with a 100-foot rope. At 99 feet down, you find yourself literally dangling “at the end of your rope.” What an apt metaphor for a hopeless situation...
Happy Mother’s Day Be Sure to Celebrate Your Mom Today and Every Day In my book Women of the Bible, I explore the lives of biblical women, celebrating their lives and their contribution to the world. Their example can inform our faith journey. I...
A Caring Church: It Only Hurts When You Care The third church is more established like Church #1 but more midsized like Church #2. It is a caring church. Consider these four discussion questions about Church #3: 1. Many pages on their website are...
What Is Your Path? When we focus on other people, we may lose sight of our own calling As Jesus wraps up his stint on earth, he spends some time with his disciples, the core group he trained for three years. They will need to carry on without...
Do We Need to Include the Lament in Our Sunday Worship Services? Expressions of grief and sorrow abound in the Psalms but the church has forgotten how to lament In the churches I have attended throughout my life and visited in the past few years...
Celebrate the Gospel of John Slow Down to Appreciate the Poetic Rhythm and Evocative Style of the Apostle John I once quipped that the book of John was my fourth favorite biography of Jesus in the Bible. Another time I wrote about the Ten Most...
Interview of Peter DeHaan about Women of the Bible My friend Gabe Hartfield recently interviewed me on Facebook Live about my book Women of the Bible. Gabe works with Intervarsity at Davenport University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Check out this...
