According to recent reports, charitable giving to churches was up in 2011. The biggest gains were witnessed among the mega-churches in America. The report cites an improving economy as the reason for the uptick. You can view the article HERE.
Month: March 2012
Politics and Religion
I remember the day well. I was minding my own business, working away in my study when a package was delivered to my desk. It was long enough ago and not so far removed from my adolescence that surprise packages created all kinds of excitement. I quickly put down what I was working on and…
Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church
Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church represents the latest work of New Testament scholar Luke Timothy Johnson. I have been familiar with Johnson’s work for some time as an author, but had not read much of his previous work. This undertaking aspires to examine the prophetic role of Jesus Christ and to see how the first generation…
The Profiteering Hirelings
Here’s a article that I came across the day after I posted some thoughts this week on the profiteering hired hands from John 10. Check it out right here.
Listening to the Right Voice:: 4
The voice of the stranger and the voice of the hired hand both speak into the lives of the sheep for their own purposes. Over and against these two voices is the voice of the good shepherd. What characterizes the voice of the good shepherd? How do we know if we can accurately identify the…
Listening to the Right Voice:: 3
Yesterday I posted about the danger of listening to the voice of the stranger. There is little doubt in my mind that all of this talk about the voice of the stranger was a veiled reference to the influence that Satan attempts to have over the lives of Jesus’ sheep. Smart sheep don’t listen to…
Listening to the Right Voice:: 2
In his teaching regarding the “good shepherd,” Jesus described three voices that speak into our lives. The first, of which, was the voice of the stranger. When my children were young, we became aware of the importance of teaching our children about “stranger danger.” As parents we were diligent about telling our kids who to…
Listening to the Right Voice
The Gospel of John contains some of Jesus’ most profound teaching not the least of which is the discourse on the good shepherd in chapter 10. There are several ways this passage can be addressed, but the one I chose for this weekend’s message centered around the voices that speak into the lives of the…
A Disturbing Trend Among Churches
Check out this article from Reuters that discusses the increased number of bank foreclosures on churches in America. You can find the article here from Reuters.com. In the past, banks have exhibited a great deal of leniency with struggling churches, in part I believe, because they didn’t want the negative public relations reaction from communities…
Finding Security:: 3
Jesus’ promise to be the “gate” is still valid today. He offers security for our lives during these turbulent times. How, then, does Jesus provide security? Upon what basis is He able to make such a bold claim? I must confess I had to think about this for a while, but I settled, at least…
