Churches tend either toward grit or glory. The gritty church assumes that everything has to be raw to be authentic. It is like NYPD Blue, a show of unparalleled brilliance in terms of grit. The police were as flawed and volatile as the perps. The lives of the heroes were as tragic as those of... Continue Reading

“Most are in agreement that the Indians were invited simply because the Pilgrims knew that they would have died had it not been for the help of the local Indians,” Rev. Cho unsentimentally recalled. “Those that we would now categorize as ‘illegal aliens,'” i.e. the Pilgrims, “not only came without invitation but they came to... Continue Reading

At the heart of Christian ethics is the conviction that our firm basis for knowing the true, the good, and the right is divine revelation. Christianity is not a life system that operates on the basis of speculative reason or pragmatic expediency. We assert boldly that God has revealed to us who He is, who... Continue Reading

We have had draw downs before – after WWII, after Vietnam, and after the Gulf War, but we have never had to think about draconian reductions while we were in the middle of a war! It is this very point that is deeply disturbing, and recklessly dangerous The failure of the bipartisan super committee to... Continue Reading

…The title of the article on my desk says it all; ‘Will evangelicals ever fill John Stott’s shoes?’ Again, only an American…could have written such a headline. More unfortunate still, however, is the signal it sends: a unique giant has gone who can never be replaced and the church is changed, changed utterly, and that... Continue Reading

Six-day theologians and scientists whom I know engage carefully and thoughtfully with the varied hermeneutical and exegetical arguments…We were not actually won over by Answers in Genesis comic strips or a simplistic fundamentalism, we are not ahistorical modernists, but are driven by careful, prayerful exegetical work… Recently at the Aquila Report, my friend Bill Evans... Continue Reading

I once heard church consultant and leadership guru Don Cousins say that you can grow a church without God if you have good preaching, great music, killer children’s ministry, and an engaging youth minister. Cousins should know. He helped build Willow Creek Community Church and the church leadership culture. In the pragmatic church, there is... Continue Reading

The Jacksonian-era movement to keep the Sabbath pure deplored Sunday mail delivery. Said one evangelical: “We have always viewed it as a national evil of great magnitude, and one which calls for national repentance and reformation, that the mails are carried, and the post offices kept open, on that holy day in every part of... Continue Reading

The “Occupy D.C.” protesters, who have squatted…at Washington’s McPherson Square, have posted a list of rules by which “occupants” are expected to abide. Rule No. 10 requires that folks not “assume anyone’s gender,” but, instead, “go with gender-neutral pronouns” like “comrade.” While necessity is the mother of invention, sloth and envy beget mediocrity and upheaval... Continue Reading

Given all our dysfunctions, it’s strange that Smith still seems to care about being in the big tent of evangelicalism. He is always careful to refer to scholars that agree with him like Kent Sparks and Peter Enns as an “evangelical” or an “evangelical biblical scholar.” What we see with this book is the coalescing... Continue Reading