Latest Posts
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Do You Deserve My Help?
Read more: Do You Deserve My Help?He approaches us at the Chevron station on the corner of Rosecrans and Sepulveda, where, on a clear day, you can see the skyscrapers of downtown L.A. cupped in the palm of the San Gabriel mountains, and overhead the planes queued up in the vast expanse of blue sky, waiting to land at LAX. Vinny,…
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SSA: A Dad’s Perspective (Guest Post)
Read more: SSA: A Dad’s Perspective (Guest Post)Allow me to introduce myself. First and foremost, I’m a sinner saved by grace. I’m a husband and a father. I’ve been a youth leader, Sunday school teacher, deacon and elder. I served in the Air Force for thirty years. I was a three-sport letterman in high school, played college football, and played seven years…
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SSA: A Mom’s Perspective (Guest Post)
Read more: SSA: A Mom’s Perspective (Guest Post)My name is Donna, and I’d like to tell you about my son. Bryan is my second child, coming four years after his big brother, Jayson, and on his dad’s 31st birthday. He didn’t have a swollen and scrunched up face like some newborns, but was beautiful from the very beginning. His paternal grandfather was…
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Called to Fail?
Read more: Called to Fail?November 6th, 2012 has come and gone. The monstrous and menacing machine that is the American political and campaign engine has crossed the finish line, and can finally click off (well, maybe for a few months). We have a victor. We all had the privilege of casting our votes for a candidate, and now we…
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A Mormon President?
Read more: A Mormon President?Today is the infamous US election day. The current polls seem to point to Obama winning the electoral college vote by 50–100 points. But what if these aren’t entirely accurate and Mitt Romney pulls away? What if America has the first Mormon president in its history? If the ‘Redskin Rule’ proves true, then Romney will be…
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I’m (Obviously Not Really But Yeah Mostly) Democrat
Read more: I’m (Obviously Not Really But Yeah Mostly) DemocratIn light of Bryan Magaña’s recent confessions, I begged The Two Cities to let me confess my own “struggles”. Yes, it’s true, I sometimes vote for Democrats. I confess, I did donate money to Obama’s campaign at the chance of winning a trip to meet the Commander-in-Chief and Beyoncé. I do idolize Michelle Obama for…
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Finding the Founding Fathers
Read more: Finding the Founding FathersBefore I start, I would like to state, for anyone who does not know, that I am a conservative who typically votes for – and will likely continue to vote for – the republican party. That being said, I would like to address and issue that I find often being espoused in both parties’ political…
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A Kinda Gay Q&A
Read more: A Kinda Gay Q&ASince publishing my article “I’m (Kinda Sorta Yeah Not Really) Gay” last month, I’ve received a lot of follow-up questions. Not so much about the article, but about the specifics of my struggle with same-sex attraction. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions. When did you realize you were, you know, gay? If…
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Sociology: A Litmus Test of Theology
Read more: Sociology: A Litmus Test of Theology“You know, I think every pastor should study sociology,” suggested Daniel[1], “that’s what I studied in college: if you really knew about communities and how people work, you could… well, pastors are leading groups of people- they need to know this stuff!” Such was the opinion of a customer of mine from last week as…
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A New Model for Ministerial Training
Read more: A New Model for Ministerial TrainingExcessive student debt is a problem. A big problem. And a problem that shows no signs of reversing trend anytime soon. A recent article by Scott Cohn, a senior correspondent for CNBC, noted that the average 2011 college graduate was saddled with over twenty-five thousand dollars in debt. But this is not just an abstract…