Holiness
My Experience at the Asbury Outpouring
SATURDAY WAS GOOD, BUT NOT WHAT WE NEEDED On Saturday, February 18th my wife, Holly, my youngest daughter, Heidi, and I made the three-and-a-half-hour drive from Logan, West Virginia to Wilmore, Kentucky, home of Asbury University. This wasn’t the normal “college visit.” It wasn’t a vacation. It was more like a pilgrimage to experience God […]
There’s Only One Hope
Everybody seems to have something to say about the recent death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the resulting riots there and in other cities around the country but something that even many of the most righteous church people seem to be neglecting is the spiritual aspect of all of this. . It’s easy to […]
Why You’re Being Deleted
I remember being shocked when Barrack Obama won his first term as president, fully believing that the Republican nominee would win (just as I was shocked when the Republican won in our most recent Presidential election). My pastor at the time suggested my surprise was a result of having only friends, and reading/listening only to commentators, whose views aligned only […]
The Devil Made Me Do It!
Readers over the age of fifty may remember the comedian Flip Wilson, whose television series in the early seventies was the second highest rated show on network television. One of the comedic characters Wilson played was Geraldine Jones who often justified her questionable actions by saying, “The Devil made me do it!” While Flip Wilson […]
Pentecost Sunday Invites You to Love!
This coming Sunday many churches will be celebrating the Day of Pentecost as reported in the Christian New Testament in Acts 2:1-21. On this day, originally a Jewish holiday celebrating harvest time, the Holy Spirit whom Jesus promised, came to his disciples in the Upper Room as they were together waiting for that promise to […]
Gates, Walls and Parades: A Biblical Approach? (Another Necessary Response to Nazarenes United for Peace)
“You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means” is a quote that came to mind when I saw the new post by Nazarenes United For Peace. This quote was said by Inigo Montoya in the movie Princess Bride, to Vizzini in response to his continued use of […]
What Does a “Healthy” Church Look Like?
Many churches today cannot be considered healthy because they have too many unhealthy members for the church to be considered “well.” Just about any church you go to, there is a mix of healthy and unhealthy members. To what proportion the healthy and unhealthy members exist in a church, to a large extent determines the health […]
To My Progressive Friends
Here’s a good “open letter” to “progressives” in the Church of the Nazarene, but applies to “progressive” Christians of any brand. It’s an honest but humble appeal. To My Progressive Friends A few days ago I received Rob Renfroe’s article “Three Requests of My Centrist Friends: An Open Letter.” Rev. Renfroe is the Pastor of […]
Christian Pacifism or Convenient Pacifism?
To announce that you’re a Christian Pacifist is essentially saying that you love my enemies more than you love me.
From Wilderness to Happiness
For the Christian Church, the Gospel reading for this past Sunday, the first Sunday in Lent, was Mark 1:9-15. In it, we see Jesus being baptized by John in the Jordan River inaugurating Jesus’ public ministry. I find a few things which are fascinating about this story. First, as Jesus was coming out of the […]
Here I Sit 