It’s a good idea to be aware of the priorities in our lives. We should periodically review what’s important to us and make sure our actions align with our intentions. For example, if I consider watching sports to be a waste of time but devote hours to its pursuit, then my actions don’t align with […]
An Adventure of the Human Spirit By River Jordan (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)River Jordan proclaims herself to be a private person. She keeps personal things to herself and her faith is personal—strong and real, but personal. So why would a reserved novelist alter her preference and her practice to write about her spiritual journey? The […]
Once, when the Israelites were in the desert and thirsty, God told Moses to speak to a rock and water would pour forth. Instead, out of anger towards the people, Moses hit the rock with his walking stick. Water still gushed out, but God was displeased over Moses’ lack of following directions. Moses’ punishment was […]
What We Can Learn from My Overflowing Bookshelves I really enjoy books. I like to read them and I like to buy them. My library collection is vast, falling into six categories: 1. Worth Keeping I enjoyed reading these manuscripts, and I’ll refer to them again. 2. Reference Materials Some of my books contain information […]
Between last Easter and this Easter, my wife and I visited fifty-two churches. Today marks the end of that adventure but also the beginning of a new one. 52 Churches Wrap-up Our journey is over. I’m sad and excited at the same time. Our spiritual sojourn of fifty-two churches has ended; reunion with our community […]
Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture By Adam S. McHugh (reviewed by Peter DeHaan) Introverts in the Church: Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture confirms that slightly more than half the population is introverted. However, the typical church experience is geared towards extroverts. We should expect this, given that most pastors and worship […]
Don’t Add to or Subtract From Scripture Most people who read the Bible are careful—or so they claim—not to add anything to God’s written word or to take anything away from it. They read the Bible with care. A commonly cited verse to support this practice is Revelation 22:18-19, which pronounces plagues for those who […]
In Thursday’s post, Who Is a Christian Pharisee?, I talked about connecting—or reconnecting Christianity—with its Jewish roots—called Messianic Judaism. Although this thought may alarm some, there are ample justifications. Old Testament Judaism foreshadowed and gave birth to Christianity, Jesus was a Jew, and almost all of his early followers where Jewish. It’s only through a […]
How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself By Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert (reviewed by Peter DeHaan)As implied by the subtitle, the main premise of When Helping Hurts is that efforts to help those who are less fortunate often do more harm than good—to both the receiver and the giver. In communicating […]
Why Small is the New Big for Today’s Church By Tony and Felicity Dale and George Barna (reviewed by Peter DeHaan) Rabbits reproduce quickly and with abundance, while elephants do so slowly and infrequently; this is a metaphor for the church. The established institutional church is likened to the elephant, while the house church is […]