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Why Theological Convictions Complicate Your Ministry But Not Your Mission
Read more: Why Theological Convictions Complicate Your Ministry But Not Your MissionIt’s 12 am and you are preparing a sermon for tomorrow. It’s 4pm and you are preparing for community group that will take place in your living room in a few hours. You have reached an impasse. You could take the easy route and give that nicely packaged sermon or group discussion that you have…
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What really happens at Hume Lake
Read more: What really happens at Hume Lake[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=”” animation=”” animation_delay=”” fullwidth=”no” bg_type=”solid_color” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” video_texture=”” fw_columns=”” fw_same_height=”” border=”” waved_border_top=”” waved_border_bottom=”” top_margin=”0″ bottom_margin=”0″][vc_column width=”1/1″ animation=”” animation_delay=””][vc_column_text]This past week I had the opportunity to experience Hume Lake as a counselor. With nervous excitement, I made the almost 5 hour trip on a bus full of ecstatic kids aging from 4th grade to…
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The Age of Angst and the Death of Calvinism
Read more: The Age of Angst and the Death of Calvinism[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=”” animation=”” animation_delay=”” fullwidth=”no” bg_type=”solid_color” bg_repeat=”no-repeat” video_texture=”” fw_columns=”” fw_same_height=”” border=”” waved_border_top=”” waved_border_bottom=”” top_margin=”0″ bottom_margin=”0″][vc_column width=”1/1″ animation=”” animation_delay=””][vc_column_text]I became what some might call a Calvinist my junior year in High school. Going to a Dutch Reformed private school where I took a “Reformed Perspectives” class certainly aided this process. I had resisted of…
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Grace & Works
Read more: Grace & WorksNow that school is out for summer (cue Alice Cooper) I’m back home working for my church as a youth ministry intern. As we began to plan for the summer and what we should teach on I recommended books like Colossians and Philippians. You know, something short and sweet that would be really encouraging. So…
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Jesus the Bartender
Read more: Jesus the BartenderFullerton, CA The downtown area of this small Los Angeles suburb is home to over a dozen bars ranging from Mexican cantinas, Irish pubs and average American bars. Every Friday and Saturday evening, the streets swell with college students, business executives, the poor, the rich, and everyone in between. These bars are filled with these…
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Who’s in charge here?
Read more: Who’s in charge here?Growing up my hometown was, and still is, very conservative. Most everyone identifies as a Christian and a Republican, and to me those two terms were nearly synonymous. I was taught that America was the greatest nation on the planet and that we were in fact a Christian nation, to suggest anything different would be…
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I’m Sorry, I Can’t Pray for You
Read more: I’m Sorry, I Can’t Pray for YouDear whoever you are church member, This past week you probably felt somewhat confused and hurt when I told you in no uncertain terms that I would not be able to commit to praying for you after you shared your struggles with me. Now, I did pray with you after we talked about your situation…
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Review of John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel By Richard Horsley & Tom Thatcher
Read more: Review of John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel By Richard Horsley & Tom ThatcherHorsley, Richard and Tom Thatcher John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel. Grand Rapids: Eerdmanns, 2013. 207 pages. Paperback. $20.00. In John, Jesus, and the Renewal of Israel, Thatcher and Horsley argue for a fresh reading of John’s Gospel. They contend that John presented Jesus as one whose ministry enacted Israel’s renewal in opposition to the Judean establishment…
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Mis(?)-Judging the Ray Rice Saga
Read more: Mis(?)-Judging the Ray Rice SagaBy now, most of us have been thoroughly inundated—thanks, largely in part, to ESPN’s wash-rinse-repeat approach of showing the elevator video—with coverage of the NFL’s domestic violence problem specifically as it relates to Ray Rice. The reaction against Rice was swift, virtually unanimous and severe. Understandably so. The reaction against the NFL could aptly be described…