“The rankings, based on each city’s Bible-reading habits and beliefs, come from a decade of interviews with more than 65,000 adults in the country’s 100 largest metropolitan areas. As Chattanooga, Tennessee, regained its top spot from Birmingham, Alabama, many demographic trends held firm.”   The Bible Belt is still firmly buckled. Southern cities top the... Continue Reading

“Too many of us are going to shows, not church. We savor presentations, not prayers. We are presented with performers, and we are less concerned with seeking the Savior. People are encouraged to love the worship… but how often to love Jesus?”   My wife and I were a little late for church one Sunday... Continue Reading

“You crossed swords with them a few years ago, maybe a doctrinal argument or the discipline of a family member. Those wounds have never healed and now they are just waiting for the right time to exact vengeance.”   Every pastor will eventually have to face enemies within the church, people who are dedicated to... Continue Reading

“True repentance acknowledges the reality of the guilt and does not try to justify it. Anyone who approaches God with true humility, contrition, and an earnest resolution not to commit the sin again will surely receive the forgiveness of God.”   Since the Bible mentions an unforgivable sin, there has been much speculation concerning its specific... Continue Reading

“Friends, consider this glorious news. We have a priest who put on true humanity. We have a priest who encountered the best Lucifer could throw at him. We have a priest who could not be swayed. And we have a priest who became the acceptable representative and the acceptable sacrifice for all Lucifer’s followers who desire... Continue Reading

“If what we find in Leviticus has passed away, then it is determined that there must be no more relevance for the believer today. While Leviticus may appear to be irrelevant upon a surface reading, a deeper look not only into the book itself, but also into the canon of Scripture will reveal the importance... Continue Reading

“When you are in a situation and you are with a late-term abortion doctor, who truly does things that are monstrous, the acts and deeds they do are truly monstrous but they are still a human being,” Daleiden declared.   Abortion doctors experience a “burden of guilt” for the deaths of babies they are responsible... Continue Reading

“As a promissory seal of our adoption, declaring grace in the continuous present and in the future, baptism never ceases to call us to the response of faith in the here and now. The force of the grace of adoption–founded upon a unilateral initiative of love–continues throughout the adoptive child’s life, but also summons them... Continue Reading

Reverend Mark Yackel-Jullen is the director for small town and rural ministry at Wartburg Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa. While he is not one to sound the death knell for Iowa churches just yet, he does admit that this decline is hurting rural churches the most.   Evelyn Birkby started having children a few decades... Continue Reading

“Fundamentalists tend to have a deep suspicion of the world—a world that is full of sin and adamantly opposed to God and his purposes. In my experience, Fundamentalists are quick to look to the world and to hold the world responsible for sin and the temptation to sin; hence, they battle hard against worldliness and look... Continue Reading