By Micah Tillman A would-be President stood before a group of retired persons and promised to take care of them. They were victims and full of fear, said the Candidate. But if they would only vote correctly on Election Day, that would change. The audience watched as the speaker painted the picture: What it means … Continue reading President X: Looking to Washington for a messiah
By Mariah Secrest After a couple years of living a normal suburban life, I’m starting to acclimate. I’m finding I enjoy going to work, studying, hanging out with friends, and taking care of my place. But then I do something like read a travel journal of Switchfoot’s trip to caste-controlled India and in a sad … Continue reading The Beauty of God: Like Clutching a Slippery Fish
By Mariah Secrest Music runs in my family. One of my most random tidbits that I usually reserve for the icebreaker “two truths and a lie” is that my great-uncle sang with Elvis’ band (true). I have cousins and uncles who have tried their hand at the music industry, my parents were in a band … Continue reading Art and Reason: Total opposites?
By Karen Swank when You call me home let me be found neither hiding in a quiet place plumping the pillow on which i sit nor standing in a spotlight before adoring masses not collecting accolades with false humility but rather let me be found kneeling at the edge of the pit arms covered with … Continue reading Ending: A poem on dying
By Shane Ambro There’s a yellow bricked road out there, somewhere…and our journey is fraught with disaster. Nowadays, part of the journey and the inherent disaster of the heart is deciding between sticking to conventional sacrifices or living with radical abandon in order to find our own way. Rarely is there a clear-cut path leading … Continue reading Tin Man: Follow The Yellow Brick Road
By Zach Hopkins I live in a very American Christian world. I have no idea about what it means to truly reach the lost, to get dirty, or to Feed My Sheep. The Great Commission is something I can recite from memory if you ask, but I had never put it to action by my … Continue reading The Poor Might Just Save the Church
By Christy Tennant Marginalized. Subverted. Uninvited. These are some of the words that describe how many artists feel in mainstream evangelicalism today. The divide between the church and the arts has been expanding over the last century. Gone, it seems, are the days of The Church championing such culture-defining artists as Michelangelo, Donatello, and DaVinci. … Continue reading International Arts Movement Seeks to Reconcile Art and Faith Communities
By Lorie Newman When I was asked to take my pastor’s place and fly on a plane for 18 hours to South Africa and spend 13 days in Swaziland, my first reaction was to put my fingers in my ears and yell “lalalalalalalalalalalalala.” Why? Fear… simple, straight from Hell, fear. Although I really wanted to … Continue reading Facing My Fears in Africa
By Karen Swank I didn’t get a flu shot this year, for the first time in years. Oh, I meant to get one. I know some people who don’t get the shot because it makes them feel puny for a few days. For the many years that I lived without health insurance or sick pay … Continue reading Learning to Rest: The last lesson of 2007
By Seth Barnes, Founder of Adventures in Missions “Unless a seed” John 12:24 In 1991, I found myself sitting beside a deathbed high in the Sierra Madre Mountains, in the village of El Derramadero. But this encounter left me uplifted as few other experiences ever have. The people of El Derramadero have a history of … Continue reading The Widow’s Mite: A woman’s death in Mexico brings life