A few differences between preaching and teaching By Zach J. Hoag | February 2, 2017 One of my core callings (you know, besides writing and binge-watching prestige dramas) is preaching. And, there’s a difference between preaching and teaching. Over the years I’ve struggled to understand and express this, and honestly I’ve heard it expressed rather poorly in the past. Some folks (who lean more charismatic and pentecostal) will denigrate teaching, implicitly if not explicitly..Continue reading→
Home
Thoughts
Foster Care for the Least of These
He told us how many of them did not cry the first night. In 2004 I learned about foster care from Perry Downs, a long-time professor at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife had taken in many children over the years. When he would check on them, they were screaming into their pillows. They had learned that they would be beaten if they cried, so he would only see silent screams. Twelve years and a few kids later, my wife and I have opened our home to foster children. We have be..Continue reading→
Was Jesus a Christian Hedonist?
Jesus lived to glorify his Father by enjoying him as the sustaining power for all his life, including his greatest suffering. Listen NowContinue reading→
False Start: Christian Faith on the Altar of Football
If confession is good for the soul, then writing this post should be like spring cleaning for my heart. Hi, my name’s David and I have a football problem. I’m a loyal, 3rd-Generation Miami Dolphin fan (don’t laugh… “it’s root-root-root for the home team. If they don’t win, it’s a shame”). I’ve rooted for them since I was little and Dan “The Man” Marino was lighting up the record books. I rooted for them when they went 1-16, with their only win coming off a last-second field goal against a strugg..Continue reading→
Daily Wisdom
Psalm 16:8
“I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.”Continue reading→
Isaiah 8:19 (08-19-16)
And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?— Isaiah 8:19 (KJV) Thoughts on Today's Verse... We live in an age when people want to mix the contents of many mystical faiths into the boiling pot of their own pseudo-Christian religion. Most do not know that the basic claim of Scripture is simple and clear. Only God, the Almighty Yahweh, is tr..Continue reading→
1 John 5:12
“Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”Continue reading→
Romans 8:18 (08-18-16)
For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.— Romans 8:18 (KJV) Thoughts on Today's Verse... "Life is hard. Anyone who tells you differently is trying to sell you something." This line from the movie "The Princess Bride" is poignantly accurate. But it is not eternally accurate! Better days are ahead, and they are better than anything we can dare imagine. As the old song says, "O that will be, glory ..Continue reading→
Church & Ministries
Scottish Catholic priest under fire for preaching in favour of independence
Pro-independence supporters take part in a march in Edinburgh, Scotland in this undated photo. A Catholic priest in Glasgow has been criticised by parishioners and had formal complaints lodged against him to the city's Archbishop for preaching in favour of Scottish independence. Canon Peter McBride, who took over at St Peter's and St Simon's Catholic churches in Partick in Glasgow's West End last year, has repeatedly issued homilies from the pulpit in favour of break..Continue reading→
Green Christianity: Thousands of UK churches convert to renewable energy
Thousands of UK churches have united in a groundswell of environmental activism, converting to renewable energies as their electricity source. More than 3,500 UK churches have switched – or have registered to switch – their electricity source from fossil fuels to renewable energies, amid a new wave of Christian support for environmental activism. Some 2,000 churches from 16 Catholic dioceses, the majority of Salvation Army facilities and a third of Quaker meeting houses have made the s..Continue reading→
Pastor to be deported to possible death in Kenya
A pastor may be sent to his death next week after Scottish immigration officials rejected his application for asylum. Pastor Pip Ashiembi, originally from Kenya and now leader of Foundation of Love Church in Glasgow, will be deported on Monday. He has lived in the UK since 2009 but was detained last Friday at Dungavel House Immigration Removal Centre, according to Glasgow local paper the Evening Times. The pastor from Scotland will be deported back to Kenya on 5 September He applied fo..Continue reading→
Christians, Muslims unite against terrorism, weapons of mass destruction
Pope Francis talks with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Egyptian imam of Al-Azhar Mosque, at the Vatican on May 23, 2016. At a time when religion seems to be one of the causes of division in the world, it is always good to hear news about how people from different faiths are uniting for a common cause. American Catholic bishops joined hands with Shia Muslim religious leaders as they recently released a joint statement condemning terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. The joint declaration, ..Continue reading→
Hot Topics
Another Tale of Squirrel Nut’s Kins
One cold, gray winter afternoon the pastor was in his office studying the finer points of the offering of the red heifer when he heard a strange banging noise coming from somewhere inside the building. He arose from his studies and traced the noise into the sanctuary, where he looked up and was amazed to see the grates from the air conditioning ducts visibly shaking. Something was scampering wildly about overhead. Running downstairs and grabbing a flashlight, he came back up and shone the beam o..Continue reading→
Giving Thanks Is Better Together
In a secular society, Thanksgiving is widely perceived as an interfaith or even faith-optional holiday. But the Christian knows that gratitude is not merely contented mindfulness. True gratitude is directed at our God, the giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:17). In expressions of thankfulness, we exalt him, proclaim his faithfulness, and confess that we have nothing apart from him. It’s especially fitting, then, that we should do this together. The Warmth of Shared Thankfulness Throu..Continue reading→
His Banner Over Me
If you do not know this kind of love, I would urge you to come to Christ and be reconciled to God. Come to the one who so loved the world that he laid down his life for his sheep. Come to him in repentance and faith. Learn at the foot of the cross what love truly is. You cannot truly love anyone else until you learn to submit yourself to the love of Christ. So come and learn. His yoke is easy; his burden is light. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love. (Sol 2:4 ..Continue reading→
Two Things Pastors Must Do Before Leading
Hungry sheep are never happy sheep, so make sure their souls are full from your preaching or teaching. Soon after his restoration, Peter and his comrades would face the challenge of prioritizing their prayer and preaching ministry (Acts 6:4 ). Immediate ministry demands distracted them from their preparations which led to the spiritual and numerical stagnation of Christianity’s first church in Jerusalem. Sheep will let you lead them if you first love and feed them. This lesson is crucial ..Continue reading→
Life & Society
Mother Told She Had to Abort Baby Or Face Death; 14 Years Later, She Faces No Regret Over Her Decision
(Pexels) Kirk and Chass Barker were overjoyed when Chass became pregnant. But their joy quickly turned into despair when a doctor told them Chass must have an abortion; otherwise, she might risk death. Chass had lost more than 40 pounds during her first month of pregnancy, prompting them to consult a doctor, according to Life Site News. The doctor told them Chass must abort the baby or else she would likely die. "We trusted him. We took the doctor for his word," said Kirk. "We made an [aborti..Continue reading→
Catholic School Head Horrified By Suggestion For Teachers to Watch Porn With Kids in Classes
Pixabay The head of a Roman Catholic school in England has strongly rejected the suggestion of a broadcast journalist for educational institutions to make kids and their teachers watch pornographic materials in classes, calling the proposal as "problematic." In his blog post quoted by The Catholic Herald, Dr. James Whitehead, headmaster of Downside School, said that openly showing pornography to schoolchildren will violate the beliefs of many faith-based learning institutions in the United Kin..Continue reading→
California Man Sentenced to 30 Years in Prison for Conspiring to Support ISIS
ANAHEIM, Calif. — A California man was sentenced to 30 years in prison this week after being convicted of conspiring to provide material support to the barbaric Islamic group ISIS. Muhanad Elfatih Badawi, 25, of Anaheim, was convicted in June of the crime, as well as engaging in financial aid fraud. His friend, Nader Elhuzayel, 25, also of Anaheim, had been convicted as well. “Defendant Badawi was a radicalizer, recruiter and facilitator, and like co-defendant Elhuzauyel, defendant Badawi aspi..Continue reading→
Bush Judge Rules Mississippi Can’t Cut Planned Parenthood From Medicaid Program
Photo Credit: Charlotte CooperJACKSON, Miss. — A federal judge appointed to the bench by then-President George W. Bush has ruled that Mississippi officials cannot cut Planned Parenthood from the state’s Medicaid program because the move violates the “free-choice-of-provider” clause in federal law. “Essentially every court to consider similar laws has found that they violate § 1396a(a)(23) of Title 42 of the United States Code, the so-called ‘Free Choice-of-Provider Provision,'” U.S. Distri..Continue reading→
Movies
Goodbye, Family Christian Stores
This week, it was announced that Family Christian Stores — one of the world’s largest Christian retailers — will close all 240 of its stores. This isn’t really shocking; Family Christian had gone through bankruptcy a few years back. But it will have an impact; more than 3,000 employees are going to lose their jobs as the stores shutter and Christian culture loses one of its largest and most diverse suppliers of books, music and trinkets. Granted, this is just the nature of the beast these days. ..Continue reading→
Have you caught up with “It’s My Favorite”?
Hey everyone, Not going to lie: it’s been a week. Work, school and home life have been busy, and the general insanity of our world right now has really robbed me of a lot of energy and will to write. It’s a shame, because I have some really good stuff on deck for you. One new series I want to write and one Oscar-related miniseries of articles, and I’m hoping that starting this weekend those will start posting. And in the weeks ahead I’m going to really be jumping into the reviewing pool again ha..Continue reading→
Watch: New music video for The Shack with new footage
Itching to see The Shack — or at least to get a taste of it before it comes out five weeks from now? Well, maybe this will tide you over: the powers that be have released two new songs from the film’s soundtrack, one of which even has a music video. Here is the video, for a new acoustic version of Skillet’s ‘Stars’: The studio has also released the full version of ‘Keep Your Eyes on Me’, which is sung by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill and has previously been heard in the trailers. Here is a Spotify ..Continue reading→
The Story of God: Proof of the Divine
Photo by Amanda Slater, Flickr. C.C. Licensing. Season two of “The Story of God with Morgan Freeman” airs Mondays at 9 p.m. (8 p.m. Central) on the National Geographic Channel. Once again, I’m writing about it here each week from a Christian perspective as a preview. This post is about episode three, the season finale, “Proof of God.” In the final episode of “The Story of God’s” second season, Morgan Freeman travels the world speaking to people who believe they’ve experienced proof — often tang..Continue reading→
Oscar nominations — my own two bits, and a complete list
It looks like La La Land is the movie to beat at this year’s Oscars. The film, a jazzy musical that stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a musician and an actress trying to make their way in Hollywood, racked up 14 Academy Award nominations this morning — tying the record set by 1950’s All About Eve and 1997’s Titanic. However, because La La Land was nominated twice for original song, it is actually nominated in 13 categories — which is more than the 12 categories that All About Eve was nominate..Continue reading→
Let’s talk Oscar noms!
Some quick thoughts on the 2017 Academy Award nominations, which were announced earlier today. A full list of nominees is available here. At first blush, my biggest surprise is that there isn’t a ton here I would bicker with. The list of nominees this year is really darn good, spread out over several movies. Maybe it’s because I saw fewer movies than normal this year or simply because so many of the nominated films are on my best-of list, but I can’t really find a bad choice among the films. Re..Continue reading→
Star Wars Episode 8 gains a title
Earlier today, the official Star Wars Twitter feed ended more than a year of speculation by revealing the title of the latest entry in the saga, due out this December: It’s official. STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI is the next chapter of the Skywalker saga. This December. #TheLastJedihttps://t.co/ySkVwQcMTPpic.twitter.com/eHrPgbsRJq — Star Wars (@starwars) January 23, 2017 [Read More...]Continue reading→
Encountering the Mystical in the ‘The Fits’
The fascinating film about adolescent encounters with the sublime gives us plenty to ponder. If you’re looking for a film that inspires lively conversation, you’ve got to check out The Fits. Anna Rose Helmer’s debut feature film runs a brief, but intense, 72 minutes, leaving plenty of time for discussion and debate afterwards. It caused a stir last year at Sundance, and critics have been talking about it ever since. Fortunately, Amazon Prime subscribers can currently stream it for free—and for ..Continue reading→
Review: The Resurrection of Gavin Stone (dir. Dallas Jenkins, 2017)
The Resurrection of Gavin Stone is a “faith-based” comedy about a washed-up former child star who, having trashed a hotel roof bar, is told to do a couple hundred hours of community service at a Chicago-based megachurch and ends up starring in their Easter play. It’s a safe, formulaic and utterly predictable film — precisely the kind of “Christian” movie I tend not to review here — but because of my interest in movies about Jesus, I was interested in seeing how this film would depict the play. T..Continue reading→
Music
One-Way Conversations by Hollyn
Hailing from Ohio, this Dove Awards New Artist of the Year nominee has been working the past year on her debut full length album titled "One-Way Conversations". Listeners were introduced to this vibrant you lady on TobyMac's latest release with the songs "Backseat Driver" and "Lights Shine Bright" and later with her debut #1 single "Alone (featuring TRU)". As a songwriter, Hollyn co-wrote all of the songs on her debut full length album and worked with producers Bryan Fowler (Ryan Stevenson), Wit and 42 North (Andy Mineo), Cole Walowac of Capital Kings, Eric Ramey (Britt Nicole) and more. The album[...]Continue reading→
Run The Race (Single) by Holly Starr
The new single from Holly Starr, co-written with and produced by Bryan Fowler (Ryan Stevenson, Tobymac, Mandisa, Hollyn).[...]Continue reading→
The Garden (Deluxe Edition) by Kari Jobe
Grammy nominated Kari Jobe is the premiere female worship leader in Christian music. Coming off her last live album, Majestic, which featured the worship anthem 'Forever' and radio hit 'I Am Not Alone', Kari Jobe has returned to the studio to record her new album, full of brand new worship anthems for the church and for personal reflection. Finding inspiration from life's joys and hardships, Kari leans into the firm foundation of Christ through it all. With career sales that top 1 million, Kari still comes back to the reason why she started in the first place- leading people into[...]Continue reading→
Back To Life by Anthony Evans
Recording Artist and Worship Leader Anthony Evans' highly-anticipated new album Back To Life releases February 3, 2017 through Sherman James Productions. A collection of worship songs, this new album features NBC's The Voice alumnus on 11 worship-themed tracks exploring authenticity, vulnerability, honesty and the way that the culmination of those three things brought him Back to Life. It marks Evans' eighth solo studio album and will be available through all digital retailers and exclusively at Lifeway Christian Stores. Back To Life is available for pre-order on January 6, 2017. "Over the last year, God has given me one revelation after[...]Continue reading→
Canopy by nobigdyl.
"I wrote Canopy coming out of a time of isolation and darkness. It felt like my life was completely falling apart and I'd have to start over again from nothing. God showed me that sometimes there's safety and protection in isolation. Sometimes, the darkness makes it easier to see the light," confessed nobigdyl. when speaking of the anticipated release. 'Canopy' is nobigdyl.'s first album release since his debut in 2015 with the 'Smoke Signal' EP. Check out indie tribe and nobigdyl at his website, nobigdyl.com.[...]Continue reading→
Books
A Look at Notable 2016 Publications
TEDS President offers his list of best books “There is no end to the making of many books,” says the author of Ecclesiastes. In the United States alone, there were close to one million titles published during the past year, with revenue approaching $1.8 billion. Hundreds of titles competed for our attention during 2016. I offer the following observations with the recognition that I have no doubt missed several important works that some of you would have included in such a survey. The books not..Continue reading→
Recommended Biographies By or About Women
Faith Cook is an author, biographer, and hymn writer. She grew up as a missionary child in war-torn China and has chronicled her story in an autobiography. Her own biographical work has been on both men: Fearless Pilgrim: The Life and Times of John Bunyan William Grimshaw of Haworth and women: The Nine Day Queen of England: Lady Jane Grey, Selina: Countess of Huntingdon: Her Pivotal Role in the 18th Century Evangelical Awakening, and Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and PoetContinue reading→
Bibliotheca Bible – a Review
There are many things that I have great admiration for, but perhaps one of the things I enjoy the most is seeing a long-awaited, labor of love come to full fruition. The tenacity, hard work, dedication, and pitfalls along the way in seeing something through to the end is something that, for lack of better terms, gets me emotionally invested in a project. Yet not all projects are equal and not all catch my particular attention – but if we’re truthful, that’s precisely what makes these types of th..Continue reading→
Christianity Today’s 2017 Book Awards
Our picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture. Make a list of all the blessings the Protestant Reformation has brought, and eventually—long after jotting down iconic phrases like “salvation by grace alone through faith alone”—you’ll get around to the CT Book Awards. Books, of course, had existed long before Luther posted his 95 Theses. But there’s no denying that reading and the Reformation, with a vital assist from Gutenberg’s printing press, soared toget..Continue reading→
Where Should Our Women be Discipled?
Pastors and elders want thinking women in the church, right? And yet popular beliefs that came out of the nineteenth century’s cult of domesticity still seem to linger in the evangelical culture today. Back then, people taught that women’s brains were inferior to men’s intellectually and that women needed to reserve their energy and blood flow for reproductive purposes. These are ideas we usually joke about now, even to provoke a woman in innocent fun, because we know them to be scientifically p..Continue reading→
10 Books Every Christian Teenager Should Read
A reader recently asked the question: Do you have a suggested list of books for teenagers, something like a “Ten best books every Christian teenager should read?” It surprised me that I have never compiled such a list, especially since I’ve got two teenagers of my own. I decided I’d better remedy this oversight straight away. Here, then, is a list of ten great books every Christian teen ought to read—or at least consider reading. Please note that these are not necessarily the ten best books your teens will read in their lifetime. Not all of these books will stand the test of time as Christian classics. But each of them is suited to twenty-first century teenaged readers and together they will provide a foundation for the Christian life that will prove both deep and wide. I list them in no particular order. The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. It is rare that a book is elevated to the ranks of the classics, but The Holiness of God is a prime candidate. Sproul’s book will introduce teens..Continue reading→
Signposts to God and More (RJS)
Books, books, books … What is the best book you’ve read on Science and Christian faith? It seems to be the season … not the holiday season, but the book season. I recently received three new books. Books by a physicist, a biologist (with training in theology as well), and a philosopher. All three tackle questions of science and Christian faith. Each of the three presents an interesting perspective – and I intend to dig into them more completely over the upcoming months. Peter Bussey’s book, Sign..Continue reading→
2016 Reading Challenge Update: September & October
This year I have been participating in the 2016 Reading Challenge, a fun way to increase and diversify your reading through another year. I took the challenge and set this year’s goal at 104 books. However, because so much of my reading has to go toward reviewing books that are recently published and of interest to Christians (both for reviews published here and in WORLD magazine), I decided to pick from all over the list rather than working through it in order. What follows are the books I completed in September and October and, in parentheses, the reading challenge category they fulfill. Below that is the complete list of categories I need to cover. As you can see, I did not finish many books over the past couple of months, something that is not unusual as my reading ebbs and flows over the course of the year. You can see my previous updates for January, February, March-April, May, June, and July-August. Sexual Morality in a Christless World by Matthew Rueger. This is a brilliant w..Continue reading→
6 Reflections on Community Inspired by Bonhoeffer
My church has recently launched a series on community called Better Together. In conjunction with the sermon series, I, in collaboration with my senior pastor, wrote a small group curriculum to compliment the series. I love community, which is why I love small groups. Like many of you, I work hard on our small group system at my church to equip leaders and to help many in my church experience the fullness of community—the good, the bad, and the ugly. However, as I continue to reflect on communi..Continue reading→