“Gospel Teams” February 2008 Sometimes for valid reasons we abandon useful things and effective practices, i.e., they’ve become dysfunctional, we lack resources, or we find something better. Sometimes for invalid reasons we abandon useful things and effective practices, i.e., we’ve misused them, we don’t want to put forth the effort, we accommodate uncritically to cultural [...]

The governor of Georgia made national headlines last November for convening a meeting at which he led citizens in praying for rain. Some rain fell the next day, which scoffers said had been predicted anyway; then an inch or more fell the following week. Was it divine intervention? Believers opined it might have been; in [...]

Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, echoing Psalm 23, uttered a prophetic word about the Messianic calling: “to guide our feet into the path of peace” (Luke 1: 79 NIV). Divine guidance may mean replacing an old path with a new one. Consider how this applies to discernment. We often, and rightly, view discernment as [...]

While cleaning up my library I found a lecture by George H. Williams, “Friends of God and the Prophets” (Harvard Divinity Bulletin, 1965). Professor Williams tutored me in church history one semester, 1952, in Boston. Some the insights of this Anabaptist historian and Harvard Professor shaped my holistic formulations in “New Call to Holiness” and [...]

Do you recall an old idiom, “Don’t steal my thunder”? It protests one person carelessly or maliciously misappropriating another’s idea, invention, or particular social role. Curious about its origin, I did a bit of research and here’s what I found. Two hundred years ago dramatist John Dennis devised a way to simulate a thunderclap for [...]

Given current challenges to Christian faith within our North American culture, covertly through assorted media-enhanced idolatries and overtly by bold literary attacks from atheists, we may reasonably anticipate more persons within our church communities becoming assailed by doubts. Obviously church leaders should be prepared to cope in a loving spirit and with a cogent Christian [...]

I’ve been trying to adjust my mind (and perhaps my tongue and pen) to some current linguistic modes, especially the penchant for using certain adjectives ending in “al.” I’m pondering three “als” in particular: missional, incarnational, and intentional. This trio joins others in church lingo, some time-dated, such as communal, others with greater continuity, such [...]

Psalm 130 is one of the most poignant of all. You may not be in a down mood now, but you have been, or will be, or know folks who are. So recite it with me: Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive [...]

In conversation about my Mother’s Day Reflections, Margaret Lemmons jokingly insisted that to be gender-fair I should feature Father’s Day equally. So, Margaret, here goes. From Google I learned that Father’s Day was started by a Spokane woman, Sonora Smart Dodd. This idea came while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909. She thought [...]

Current cultural conventions of “political correctness” make us cautious about singling out gender characteristics. An acrostic poem found in Proverbs 31 (verses 10-31) used to be read every Mothers’ Day, to the dismay of some women present who considered it too gushy–like flowers for the one with the most children– and, well, paternalistic. Of course, [...]