by Renee Crosby Is homelessness in our country really an epidemic, or is the media just making a big stink out of it for journalistic sensationalism? You tell me. What are your thoughts? Here is something for you to think about: In America based on an average classroom size of 30, in every state, in…
by Renee Crosby Are you getting a visual of a panhandler on a street corner with a cardboard sign inscribed with something close to “anything helps?” Have you ever thought to wonder what they really want? Most of us, me included, assume they want us to open the window and hand them a few bucks….
by Renee Crosby I believe we cannot end homelessness in our country, do you? I mean after all, Jesus said, “you will always have the poor among you.” [John 12:8] Is it time for us to just reconcile that it is a cause without end? Let’s face it people, it’s a daunting, worldly, far reaching…
by H. Van Dyke Parunak About the time that my book Except for Fornication (Energion, 2011) appeared, a gentleman with a troubled marital history visited our assembly. His wife had left him and married someone else. Then she left her new husband, and our friend joyfully announced one day that she wanted him to remarry…
by H. Van Dyke Parunak Readers of Except for Fornication (Energion, 2011) will recognize that I hold a very high view of Scripture. In my own pilgrimage, I find Deut. 29:29 a useful guide to the implications of such a view, and it shaped the exposition in the book. “The secret things belong unto the…
by H. Van Dyke Parunak In studying the fornication clause in our Lord’s teaching on divorce and remarriage (Except for Fornication, Energion, 2011), I was impressed with how much later portions of the Bible assume the reader’s familiarity with earlier portions. (A scholar would call this phenomenon “intertextuality.”) In my book, the central insight is…
by Chris Surber In John 14:27 Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (ESV) The promise of peace is common in the Bible but it is rare in…
by Chris Surber Political elections in Haiti are always difficult. My family and I are living and doing ministry in Haiti this year. From demonstrations to riots, corruption and coercion, what we witnessed this year, first hand, makes me wonder if political involvement ought to be even an option for a Christian. On the other…
by Chris Surber What is the central mission of the individual Christian? What is the central mission of the Church? How can any person be effective at any thing if they fail to identify with clarity their central mission? A lot of believers today are living as though their central mission was to purify society…
Steve Kindle, author of Stewardship: God’s way of recreating the world, and David Croteau, who wrote Tithing after the Cross, engage in a discussion of how best to understand the way to honor God with our resources and our lives. Although they agree in principle, their approaches differ, but are not in conflict. We’d love…