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Why We Need the Whole Bible
One time I talked to a believer frustrated with his Christian radio station. Now, if I said nothing else, you might assume he wanted the station to play more music, or that he disagreed with some doctrinal point covered in a sermon. But if you thought either of those things, you’d be wrong. He simply didn’t like that some of the radio pastors preached from the Old Testament, because (from his perspective) only sermons from the New Testament are truly edifying. He added that some of the Old Testament stories might be okay for children’s Sunday School classes, but weren’t something adults needed to hear. A few weeks later someone in…
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Is Your Church Reaching Single Moms?
Every year we set aside a day to celebrate our mothers and the wonderful, women who’ve provided nurturing care and support. While we take the time to celebrate motherhood, I want to also take a moment to call us to support our single mothers. Not just once a year, but all year round. The Life of the Single Mom—a ministry for singles moms—shares on their site some revealing stats about single moms in America: 2/3 of single moms do not attend church Only 1% of the country’s 300,000 evangelical churches has a sustainable single-parent program 1/3 of single moms live in poverty 75% of all government assistance is received by…
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Easter Follow-Up Opportunity
Easter Sunday was a little over a week ago, but that doesn’t mean its accompanying opportunities have ended. Chances are you saw some new faces in your church or in your children’s ministry programs. Let me encourage you to follow-up with them. If you are a Sunday school teacher or helper, then this post is especially for you. You have a chance to reach your visitors and their families in ways that your church staff members may not be able. As a volunteer, you have a connection with them because you have already interacted with them. As a lay member, you are not as intimidating as a pastor. So, if it…
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What Lent & Valentine’s Day Have in Common
You may have noticed something unusual about this Wednesday: February 14th. Besides this celebration of Cupid’s arrows, it’s also Ash Wednesday—the first day of Lent. Both holidays happen to coincide on the same day this year. Some of us view Valentine’s Day as the day for excessive chocolate eating, right? And Lent, of course, is often typified by fasting in preparation for Easter. At first glance, these special days may seem contradictory, but the more I’ve thought about it the more I appreciate the connection—particularly the one unifying word, love. If you’ve been around while, you know that chocolate and roses don’t define love. True love involves enduring sacrifice for…
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Hospitality: An Overlooked Part of Evangelism
Do you ever wonder how to encourage your family in sharing their faith? Simple steps such as evangelism training go a long way, but one thing often gets forgotten—the role of hospitality. Dustin Willis and Brandon Clements introduce readers to hospitality as a way of life in The Simplest Way to Change the World. Sometimes as parents it’s easy to get caught up in the mundane elements of day-to-day child rearing. Our ordinary days seem insignificant. But as these authors point out, Jesus is in the business of taking small things and making them big. Not the other way around. “In the same way, the ‘smallest’ things in our lives—ordinary days…
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Called and Courageous Girls
Has it ever seemed to you that many women get forgotten or neglected in the retelling of Bible stories? We hear brave stories about our fathers of the faith, but sometimes we forget about our brave and courageous mothers. I just finished an exciting new book with my kids, Brave and Courageous: A Bible Story About Miriam. It’s the first in a new series from Called and Courageous Girls by authors Rachel Spier Weaver and Anna Haggard and geared toward children ages 3 to 7. As you may have guessed, this series seeks to tell stories about our female biblical heroines. In a letter to the readers, the authors comment:…
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Back to School Prayers
It’s been a little over 3 weeks since my firstborn started Kindergarten. I am happy to report that for the most part, things are going great. Of course, there were a few meltdowns at first about bringing a lunch from home versus buying food in the cafeteria, but I am thinking this just goes with the territory, right? Life transitions can be tricky to navigate. And, sometimes we get so busy navigating them that it’s easy to forget one of the most important things—prayer. A year ago, I did a “Back to School Prayer Challenge” for the ministry where I work. Looking back on the posts, they’ve felt timely and…
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Loving, Learning, and Living God’s Word
Recently, I downloaded a free eBook called “21 Ways to Love, Learn, and Live God’s Word” from the David C. Cook Ministry. (You can go here to access your own free copy.) Near the beginning it sites research stating that the percentage of American adults who report reading the Bible every week has dropped from 46 to 37 percent in the past decade. Among millennials that percentage is even lower at 24 percent. Sounds a little discouraging, especially considering the importance of Scripture reading to a believer’s spiritual growth. Yet, research also shows that many people who increase their reading do so because the Bible was made more accessible to…
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How Patriotic is Too Patriotic?
This month I’ve been thinking about what patriotism means to many Christian families in our country. When my husband and I moved to Texas 7+ years ago, I experienced more culture shock than anticipated. Have you seen that bumper sticker that says “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as quickly as I could”? Well…that wasn’t on our car. Some joke that “everything is bigger in Texas.” It’s surprising how sometimes even little things contribute to that perception. I opened the mailbox one afternoon, and out popped our new car insurance cards. They were 4 times the size of any other I had ever seen thus far in…
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A Free Evangelism Gospel App for VBS
What we know as “Vacation Bible School,” originally began as “Everyday Bible School” at a New York beer hall in 1898. According to a Lifeway article: “Initially, it was a plan of a compassionate doctor’s wife who sensed a need to get children off the streets of New York during the summertime. Mrs. Walker Aylett Hawes went to New York City from Charlottesville, Virginia, with her husband who was specializing in a medical ministry to children. She noted that many of the children attended to at her husband’s clinic received injuries as they played in the streets of New York City. She surmised that they needed something safe and…
