As we met last night for prayer we weren’t meeting alone. We were meeting with Jesus. Our own prayers for conversions, growth, preservation, fellowship, joy, unity, faithfulness, and the glory of God are simply the “Amen” we utter in response to the continual intercession of Jesus Christ the only mediator between God and man. When that... Continue Reading

“Sometimes we forget why we are ‘The Church’ in the first place. Sometimes we treat the church like all the other things we consume daily in our lives, and so we try to shape and form the church in our own image. We want a church that meets our preferences, like personalized settings on our... Continue Reading

“The American Values Atlas was compiled by the Public Religion Research Institute and Social Science Research Solutions, and was released in late September. It found that 14 percent of Alabamians describe themselves as “unaffiliated” when asked about their religious tradition. The “unaffiliated” category ranks third behind white evangelical Protestants (36 percent) and black Protestants (18 percent).”   The... Continue Reading

The alliance, which was formed in 2013, estimates that there also are 2,800 nonprofit attorneys and accredited staff in the country. The umbrella network includes the National Association of Evangelicals, the Assemblies of God, the Church of the Nazarene and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition, among others.   WASHINGTON (RNS) An alliance of evangelical organizations has pledged... Continue Reading

This statement does not address the reasons Driscoll was asked to step away from the pulpit. Did the BoE report disqualify him or not? Having a restoration plan certainly sounds like disqualification. From what would Driscoll need to be restored, if not disqualification? Since the congregation is footing the bill for the severance, shouldn’t they... Continue Reading

I think this is a teaching moment for Christian leaders. The refusal to speak clearly when asked remains a problem, which is what precipitated this to begin with. Given that this issue may be the hottest cultural topic and given the swiftness with which society and, increasingly, the courts have accepted gay marriage, prominent Christian... Continue Reading

“Every church has people who make the public gatherings of the church a low priority. These are the people who only come to church when it is convenient and who use any excuse to miss a day or miss a service. Every church desperately needs people who will make the public gatherings a top priority.... Continue Reading

“A couple of weeks ago, LifeWay Research released new data on mental illness and how churches and pastors respond. David Murray, as a pastor and thinker, has written a couple of great blog posts analyzing the data. This is the first. David served on the working review team that reviewed and approved the project direction... Continue Reading

“While the Episcopal Church has established a continued pattern of steady decline since the early 2000s, the unbroken trend is relatively recent: the church lost only 18,000 members in the 1990s, a plateau that dropped off about the time Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was consecrated the church’s first openly partnered gay bishop. Overall, the... Continue Reading

At his New York press conference, Pastor Houston explained: “And to me, the world we live in, whether we like it or not is changing around and about us. Homosexual marriage is legal in [New York City] and will be probably in most Western world countries within a short time. So the world’s changing and... Continue Reading