By Summer Lee Carlson As a consequence of spending childhood in church, my memories are filled with felt boards, puppet shows and substitute “Halloween” parties in which one dressed as a Bible character or animal from Noah’s ark. The recurring theme of those felt boards and Sunday school lessons were usually centered on the men … Continue reading The Church: A Study on Ordinary People
By Carole Turner My husband Dean and I have been a part of Healing Place Church for over 10 years. I have known Dino and Delynn Rizzo for over 20 years. A lot of what I read about in Dino’s new book Servolution, I actually was a part of. I even got to read rough … Continue reading Servolution by Dino Rizzo: Starting a Church Revolution through Serving
By Jonathan Foster The Point of a Restaurant The point of a restaurant is to serve food… good, authentic food. Why do you open a restaurant if not to make an impression on someone’s palette? At the heart of the food business should be a love for cooking. Yet, many restaurants will expend resources creating … Continue reading What About the Food: Restaurants and Churches
By Sarah Fujimoto and Lee Melton Picture this. Your meandering your way through a cold, could hear a pin drop on the floor art museum when something catches your eye. Left to ponder, stare, and wonder at the piece in front of you, some questions arise. I wonder, why did they draw that line? I … Continue reading Artist Corner: Featuring Art by Lee Melton
By Jon Hirst Divide and conquer… analyze and define… specialize and focus. All around us, we hear the call to niche our lives, control our surroundings and manage our worlds. In school, guidance counselors always advise us to pick a direction and focus in. But I wonder what Jesus would say about our desire to … Continue reading Missional Living: Our Voice and Hands for Jesus
By Wrecked for the Ordinary Obama has announced that he will not support investigating the alleged torturous interrogations conducted in Guantanamo Bay during the previous Bush Administration. The following news excerpt is from the IrishTimes.com: PRESIDENT Barack Obama has backed away from support for a truth commission to investigate the use of torture by CIA … Continue reading Obama Backs Away from Truth Commission
By Caitlin Woodward Skeptical? Yes. I am of most things that cry out from the American Christian sub-culture, “Buy me! I can fix you!” I don’t like the mess of fix-it steps that the well to do American culture has turned Christ’s grace and love into. We don’t need one more boxed and microwavable program … Continue reading Book Review: Principle of the Path by Andy Stanley
By Susan Perry I was first wrecked by poverty during my sophomore year of college. Our flight touched down on the island of Exuma in the Bahamas; I stepped off excited, expectant, and feeling completely at home in my surroundings. As we drove from the airport to our lodging for the week, I wanted to … Continue reading Wrecked by Poverty in the Bahamas
By Karen Swank Teaching Sunday School and leading youth group is wrecking my perspective on Somali pirates. Because I teach on the persecuted church, I know that people are executed, tortured, or imprisoned for their faith on a regular basis in Somalia. I know that Christians there can’t even register as refugees to flee to … Continue reading Gaining Perspective from Somali Pirates
By Carole Turner My 12 year-old daughter has gotten up every Thursday at 4:30am for almost two years to go cook and then feed breakfast to the homeless population of Baton Rouge. The breakfast is served at the Baton Rouge Dream Center’s Roselawn location, which is just off Florida Blvd, right down the road from … Continue reading Helping Homeless People: Not Always About Money