For those considering a second baptism because of a later, more tangible conversion experience, rest assured that your original baptism, which signifies coming into new covenant membership, is efficacious based not on the strength of your conversion experience, but on the power of God in conferring grace to new covenant members in his own time.... Continue Reading

Discipline promotes God’s holiness , protects the church from infection, and restores the rebellious, making clear the seriousness of their resistance to Christ’s Word and church.   The third mark of a true church, church discipline, has a largely negative connotation in our culture, but the biblical idea is both positive and negative. A person... Continue Reading

What cannot be allowed is a confessionalism which is undisciplined in both senses of the word: where the individual does not understand that, in terms of a particular church’s public ministry, his conscience is not the ultimate court of appeal and arbiter of what he can and cannot say while being an officer in the... Continue Reading

Then, one ordinary day, I came to Jesus, openhanded and naked. In this war of worldviews, Ken was there. Floy was there. The church that had been praying for me for years was there. Jesus triumphed. And I was a broken mess. Conversion was a train wreck. I did not want to lose everything that... Continue Reading

Lori says of this album, “Lyrically, “Begone Unbelief” is a thoughtful project on wrestling and redemption.  I strive to deal honestly with issues of Christian doubt and with the hope that can be found even in a miniscule mustard seed of faith in Christ Jesus.”   Lori Sealy has recently released her 13 song CD,... Continue Reading

“We’ve reached a point where people are afraid to actually talk about what they want to say, because somebody might be offended,” he said. “People are afraid to say ‘Merry Christmas’ at Christmas time. … We’ve got to get over this sensitivity. It keeps people from saying what they really believe.”   WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, appearing at... Continue Reading

After telling the group’s leaders last week they would lose their status as an official student organization, administrators changed course on Monday and approved their application for recognition. But administrators only offered the approval as an exception to the school’s nondiscrimination policy and stressed the Asian Christian Fellowship would not be covered by the policy... Continue Reading

Effective youth ministry boils down to pursuing relationships, teaching scripture, proclaiming the Gospel, worshiping, and praying fervently. That is it. Ministry revolving around these five components has endless possibilities. Other parts of ministry, such as missions, social justice, and fellowship, can have great vibrancy with such a foundation. Ministry that lacks relating, exegeting, proclaiming, worshiping, or... Continue Reading

“We’re creating entirely new concepts of families. If you have two women seeking to be listed as Parent One and Parent Two, that does not exclude listing a man as father,” said Miami family lawyer Karyn J. Begin, who represented dad Massimiliano “Massimo” Gerina in a two-year paternity case involving lesbian friends who had his... Continue Reading

I was so deeply impacted by the inscription of his grave as uniquely different from so many others. Joseph Hart’s grave stone reads as follows: Joseph Hart was by the free and sovereign Grace and Spirit of God raised up from the depths of sin, and delivered from the bonds of mere profession and self-righteousness,... Continue Reading