Category: Christian Living
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Good News idea: Ring that bell
Pretty soon you’ll start hearing a familiar Christmas jingle. No, I don’t mean the annoying Christmas muzak you’ll hear at the grocery store. I mean the jingle of the bell ringer outside. If you’ve rushed by the red kettle as quickly as possible your whole life, maybe you don’t know that it’s a fundraiser for…
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A Biblical Imbalance
The default topic in Christian leadership circles today is balance. We need to balance our work and family life. We need to balance ministry in our community with ministry at our church. We need to balance our budget. We need a balanced diet. Something is wrong in your life? You are out of balance. And…
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The Power of Today
As I sit here this morning, looking out of my window onto my street, I have a single thought: Today is powerful. One single day could change everything. No, there’s nothing significant about this Thursday. I mean that every day is powerful. And you have one shot to get today right. Each day I have…
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Dip your toe in the river
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Psalm 51:10-12 The river of God’s activity is real.…
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The gradual transformation of evangelical eschatology
Those raised in evangelicalism were taught to believe that the world will only get worse until the Lord returns. Culture degrades, morality disintegrates, and the world falls apart to the point that only Jesus can rescue us from certain self-destruction. Listen to almost any traditional evangelical voice and you’ll hear this language peppered in. Things are…
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Worship Song or Love Song?
Maybe I’m just weird? But have you ever noticed that most worship music is really just one noun or pronoun away from being a love song? And if you aren’t careful… change the name from an object of worship to an object of affection… and a whole lot of worship songs get PG-13 real fast.…
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5 Ways to Be Good News in Your Neighborhood on Halloween
Christians have a weird history with celebrating Halloween. Not growing up in the church I was appalled when I heard church people refer to it as “Devil’s night” and say things like, “Of course we don’t celebrate Halloween.” It’s as if we’re talking about two different holidays. There’s the one that actually happens and the…
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A Fall to Grace
One day morning will dawn, your eyes will open, and you will awaken with the literal reality that the dream you had for yourself is over and it’s time to move on. I can think to specific days in 2000, 2003, 2008, and most recently in summer 2011 when I rolled out of bed with…
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Consider it Joy!
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. James 1:2-3 Twisted Life James knew what was up. He knew that if you’d take walking with Jesus seriously, truly lead people, got past the fluff, and entered into the Christian…
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Three types of busyness
The other day Doug Fields wrote about battling busyness in ministry and offered these 6 action steps. Declare war on busyness Go public Clean the piles Go to bed earlier Journal to find the “yes” Quit lying to yourself [Check out his descriptions here] This is such a crucial topic. As I unpacked these action…