Cathy was often quoted as saying: “I’d like to be remembered as one who kept my priorities in the right order. We live in a changing world, but we need to be reminded that the important things have not changed. I have always encouraged my restaurant operators and team members to give back to the... Continue Reading

The idea of Christian unity has been so perverted over the years by liberal Christianity that there is considerable confusion about what it means, both inside and outside the church. Another sad consequence is that those who are orthodox have overreacted to these abuses by rarely speaking about it, except to criticize it, and we... Continue Reading

Who are the trophies of grace in your mind? Athletes? Actors? Government leaders? I don’t want to lessen the miracle of salvation God works in the lives of these high-profile figures. But do you have a pecking order? Do you start with the influencers and pop culture icons, move on to the college students, remember... Continue Reading

If, as a Christian, you take the call to help the poor seriously, you have to…help the poor. Feed them. Clothe them. Hire them. Jones and Zmirak remind us that, as Christians, we are called to do the “demanding and particular.” We cannot delegate it our elected officials, blog about it, or assume that having... Continue Reading

I’m a member of a small church. Our church had around 150 members when my wife, Abby, and I started attending almost seven years ago, but now our numbers are closer to 70-90. Our sanctuary, built for around 200, is often sparsely populated on non-Easter Sundays. Our nursery is stocked with toys older than I... Continue Reading

A third church comes to mind. It is the church led by a pastor you don’t know, a church you have never read about, a church that has never had a staff visit it to learn the “secret sauce” of its growth and influence. The pastor doesn’t have an audience outside of his church. People... Continue Reading

Christianity’s opposition to homosexuality is not the product of some dusty medieval exegete poring over obscure Old Testament verses. From the beginning, what set apart the new and strange sect called Christians from the rest of their culture was their strange sexual ethic. They refused polygamy. They refused the sexual exploitation of slaves by their... Continue Reading

The other potential problem with tweeting is this: It is sort of like a Protestant equivalent of the Pope’s ex cathedra statements. We all have a pope in our belly, said Luther. Well, twitter has given the Protestant church a million popes who daily (sometimes hourly) pope off, I mean, pipe off one-liners as though... Continue Reading

Whether it is a kingdom of being liked and accepted by critical coworkers or family members, a kingdom of getting just the right job for your interests and training, or a kingdom of children who don’t talk back and a spouse eager to tend to your needs, these kingdoms are still pseudo-kingdoms. Even if they... Continue Reading

Looking back over the history of the post-Reformation Church we can see that it was where the catechetical system of instruction as adhered to that the best fruits of the Reformation were preserved and transmitted. Richard Baxter was ready to acknowledge that “the chief part of church reformation that is behind (accomplished), as to means,... Continue Reading