Eight Facts About Good Stewardship God’s people in the New Testament are called Christians, saints, disciples, brethren, and more. But one often-forgotten name for the children of God appears in 1 Peter 4:10: “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s Read more…
Peer Pressure Relief Valves Dealing with negative peer pressure is an unavoidable part of life. The pressure to conform to the world can build slowly, and if we do not address it, it can eventually burst into compromise. In the mechanical world, manufacturers solve that problem with pressure relief valves. Read more…
Peer Pressure Cooker: Standing Firm When the Heat Is On While growing up in a home with eight mouths to feed, my parents planted an acre garden. We had tomatoes, bell peppers, squash, corn, cucumbers, green peas, and green beans—green beans, green beans, and more green beans. I picked the Read more…
Hospitality in the Christian Life: Welcoming Others with Grace Christian hospitality is more than entertaining guests. In Scripture, hospitality is a practical expression of love, mercy, and service. It welcomes people in the name of Christ, meets real needs, and strengthens the church. Hebrews 13:2 reminds us, “Do not neglect Read more…
A Total Eclipse of the Son: Seeing Christ More Clearly On April 8, 2024, many of us stepped outside to watch the solar eclipse. It was my first time seeing a near-total eclipse, so Beverley and I hosted a small back-patio eclipse party. If you ever plan one yourself, here Read more…
Purpose of Preaching While my wife and I drove on an interstate in central Texas, we passed a church with a large banner that read, “Home of the 15-minute Sermon.” Around the same time, a preacher visiting from India told me that many denominational services he attended had replaced preaching Read more…
The Anthropic Principle: The Universe After hearing a loud bang aboard Apollo 13, astronaut James A. Lovell radioed, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” The mission was 56 hours underway on April 13, 1970, when oxygen tank 2 exploded and damaged tank 1. With oxygen and power failing far from home, Read more…
The Anthropic Principle: The Solar System Sir Isaac Newton used his law of universal gravitation to help explain the solar system’s motions. The story is told that he built a mechanical model of the solar system—an orrery—where turning a crank made the bodies rotate and orbit. When one of Newton’s Read more…
The Anthropic Principle: Earth The Goldilocks Planet In the familiar fairy tale, Goldilocks breaks into the home of three bears and tests their food, chairs, and beds until she finds the ones that are “just right.” Her story illustrates a simple truth: some things must be precisely balanced to work. The same is true of Read more…
Questions Related to the Eldership Many questions arise when congregations consider the qualifications and work of elders. Several of these issues are addressed in the thirteen‑lesson workbook Elders, Overseers, Shepherds, with an expanded eighteen‑lesson edition also available in PDF format. Below are some of the more common questions that frequently Read more…