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
By Patrick Bradaway One day while doing mission work in New Zealand, we had a teaching on evangelism, sort of like a motivational talk to get us pumped to meet the people around our community. So I got on my walking shoes and went to the first place I had in mind–the park. At the … Continue reading Found in Translation: A threeway conversation in New Zealand
By Lindsey McDonald “Follow Me.” I heard you say this morning. What about financial security, Jesus? What about graduate school? What about family? What about marriage? And community sounds like a great idea, but I’m so independent. I don’t know if it’s for me? “Follow Me.” But, Jesus, what about comfort? What about safety? What … Continue reading Follow Me
By Josh Casper My time in Calcutta was met with the usual heartbreaking scenes of poverty and injustice, but never have I known all their beautiful faces with such heartbreaking stories. They were more than stories. They were lives. They were Gods. The first ministry we plugged into was working in Mother Teresa homes. I … Continue reading Love Until It Hurts: In the slums of Calcutta