All my life I've heard many creative excuses for missing church. Long before memes were invented for social media, absentee churchgoers joked about attending "Bedside Baptist," "Church of the Holy Comforter" or "Church of the Inner Springs" to imply that they were...
I've tried my best to keep a good attitude during this pandemic season, but God knows I've complained too much—about masks, vaccine mandates, changing health policies, closed schools, online church services and travel restrictions. But what I've hated most are...
Imagine that a murder happened in broad daylight on a busy street corner of your city, and more than 500 people witnessed it. Some of them may have taken cell phone videos or photos of the crime. Then all these witnesses appeared in a courtroom, stood on the witness...
America's culture war grew more intense last month after Florida's governor, Ron DeSantis, signed the Parental Rights Law, which prohibits educators from teaching about gender identity or sexual orientation to kids from kindergarten to third grade. The bill has broad...
Hillsong has been the most popular name in Christian worship for more than two decades, and the Hillsong network of churches has planted congregations in 30 countries since it was founded in 1983 in Australia. Its global membership is estimated at 150,000. But a...
As if the COVID-19 pandemic weren't enough to spark fears of the end of the world, Russia's invasion of Ukraine poured gasoline on this fire. Everywhere I go Christians ask me if we are on the verge of World War III. And most of them don't like my answer: I don't...
I meet many people who tell me they desperately need a word from God. I've seen Christians line up in front of prophets in a church service, hoping for a quick solution to their problems. I've also seen those same Christians stand in line a second time in front of the...
Ukrainian pastor Yan Gutarov woke up around 3 a.m. on Feb. 24. He couldn't go back to sleep, so he began to pray.At 4:30 a.m., he heard an explosion and he wondered if there had been a gas leak in his neighborhood in the city of Odessa. But another explosion followed,...
Early in the morning on Feb. 24, President Vladimir Putin of Russia began what he called a "peacekeeping mission" in Ukraine. It was, in fact, a hostile and unlawful act of war that has been condemned by the world community. As soon as Russian bombs began falling on...
By the time LaToya Merrill was 15, she had her first baby. She started selling drugs and dating drug dealers so she could get money for diapers for her son.Scared and desperate, LaToya sought help from a school counselor. But the counselor made things worse when she...
Kids around the nation are reminded every February of the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Jesse Owens, Thurgood Marshall, Frederick Douglas and so many other Black men and women who excelled as politicians, civil rights leaders, judges,...
I've tried my best to keep a good attitude during this pandemic season, but God knows I've complained too much—about masks, vaccine mandates, changing health policies, closed schools, online church services and travel restrictions. But what I've hated most are...
In case you haven't noticed, sweeping cultural changes are happening in the midst of this global pandemic. Recent polls have shown that teenagers and young adults are abandoning faith.One recent poll showed that about three-quarters of teens in the United States...
My mother died last week at age 93 after almost three years of dementia. My father died four years ago this week. And last year I lost three close friends. You'd think by now I'd be an expert in how to grieve a loss but I've felt quite helpless when it comes to how to...
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