Orphanages can be shockingly quiet. Infants and toddlers won’t cry if no one ever responds to their cries. I learned this from a story about how an adoptive father spent a week with the young children he and his wife were adopting but needed to leave for a few weeks...
Jesus says that if we want to grow in our spiritual life, we have to abide, or remain, in him. With so much competing for our attention and affections, how do we do it? The good news is God has shown us how. Here are a few, and while it’ll take time and space to use...
If the Bible says something more than once, we should pay attention. How about if it says something 17 times in the span of just one chapter? This is what happens in Psalm 136, where God’s people basically tell the story of God’s care and redemption. Then, between...
Easter isn’t over. According to the Church calendar, Easter Sunday actually began a whole 50-day season of Easter. Just as for the 40 days of Lent we mourned, repented and fasted, for the season of Easter we are supposed to rejoice, celebrate and feast. You would...
The numbers don’t paint a promising picture of Christianity in America, especially when it comes to young people. Consider these stats that Andy Jung shared on Sunday during his session, “Growing Young,” about how churches like First Pres can be more welcoming to...
“Gandalf! I thought you were dead! But then I thought I was dead myself. Is everything sad going to come untrue? What's happened to the world?" This line, spoken by the Hobbit Sam in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King, so captures Easter Weekend. On Good Friday...
Love compels us. That’s what Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians. But what does it compel us to do? Well, it compels us to love God and to love neighbor. And the best way to do both of them is to tell people about Jesus. And Paul actually shows us the way one...
The Sundae Funday Bowl, a community event we held at Valley Lanes in Harrisonburg, featured bowling, ice cream from Smiley's Ice Cream, face-painting, a prize wheel, card tricks and time to be together. Here are some highlights. Photo Highlights [gallery size="large"...
Judas had seen Jesus. He had been with Jesus. He had heard Jesus. He had seen Jesus raise the dead and walk on water and heal people. He had seen Jesus do all these amazing things and yet Judas betrayed him. He ended up in the night. (That’s such a powerful line in...
They won’t want to hear it. That’s the excuse I often tell myself about telling people about Jesus and our faith in Him. Have you thought or said the same thing? In a time when the decline of the Christian faith in the West is on full display, it’s easy to get...