Aligning Ourselves with Like-Minded People Results in Isolation and Division An issue in the corporate world is business silos. This is where a department or unit puts up walls that separate them from the rest of the company. The leaders of these silos of information and function do so to maintain control and assure them […]
A Lesson in Reacting to the Unexpected In college I heard an account about a struggling church who hired a minister to help them grow. He was full of energy, enthusiasm, and ideas. In no time he connected with the local community. They responded by showing up for church on Sunday morning and for the […]
Re-examine Our Church Practices from a Biblical Viewpoint Over the past few months, I published a series of posts about assumptions we should change about church. Here is a list of all nine: What perspectives should you change about your view of church? Pick the assumption that most convicts you and work to reform it, […]
Let’s Strive to Get Along With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #15. This United Methodist Church is an outlier congregation, quite unlike the others from their denomination that we have visited. Though we enjoyed them all, this […]
Speaking in Tongues–or Not With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #14. My experience at this church is an enigma. On one side, their friendliness embraced me. Their service was energetic and appealing. I wanted more. On the […]
Gamaliel Offers Wise Advice for Whenever Religious Factions Stand in Opposition Paul’s in jail, imprisoned for doing what God told him to do. This isn’t Paul’s first incarceration for his faith in Jesus, and it won’t be his last. When his trial finally begins, his detractors levy four charges against him, which they use to […]
Peter returns to Jerusalem, amazed at what God has shown him: God doesn’t just want to save Jewish people, but non-Jews (Gentiles), too. He has a heart for all people. Imagine that. The Jewish believers, however, are quick to criticize Peter. Even though Jesus set the tradition-breaking precedent of embracing non-Jews, when Peter veers from […]
Examine the Scriptures Every Day to See If What People Say Is True The book of Acts tells about the early church, with the latter two thirds of it focused on Paul’s travels and interactions with the various city branches of Jesus’s church. One brief stop is in the city of Berea. Luke writes this […]
How Big is Your Tent? A Call for Christian Unity, Tolerance, and Love What’s It Take to Be Welcome in Jesus’s Tent? The Bible gives us the answers, but most people miss them. And too many clergy spout manmade solutions that miss the mark. Discover what Jesus said it takes to “go all in” for […]
Disunity Today Hurts the Cause of Jesus In our consideration of words that appear only in the New Testament, we come across Pharisees and Sadducees. Two related words are Zealot and Nazarene, along with Essene. Pharisees Appearing ninety-nine times in the New Testament, the Pharisees receive the most attention. They were a righteous group of […]