What’s happened to Christmas? Commercial superficiality has intruded on this once hallowed celebration and hollowed it out. All that’s left is a non-stop shopping binge and way too many obligatory holiday events to attend, leaving all but the most ardent Yuletide devotees, worn out and...
Do you know what we’re asking when you pray, “Come Holy Spirit”?Do you understand just how risky it is? It seems safe enough. It’s a prayer spoken in lots of churches these days. But do we know what we’re getting ourselves into? Do we realize we’re...
What if you were stripped of all the props and scaffolding that make you feel good about yourself and your life? Would you become angry and miserable and stop trusting God or would you still serve him with all your heart? My wife and I were...
We can’t see mysteries, we can only trust them… One of the hardest, if not thehardest thing for me to believe is God’s providence in everything that takes place in life. By providence I mean recognizing God’s will in everything that happens to me and in...
Can you be too religious for your own good? Yes! We all know people who seem to be so religious that they’re impossible to be around. They’re devoted, obedient, sincere and absolutely unbearable! On the other hand, I’d say you can’t be too human the...
It seems to me that there are more Christians today that don’t attend church at all or only go occasionally than there are committed regulars. But if you’re serious about growing up in Christ and becoming mature there’s no way around it, you’ll have to embrace...
My first year as a Chrisitian was spent at the Teen Challenge Training Center in Rehrersburg, Pennsylvania in the middle of farm and dairy country. I worked with the dairy cows. Each morning before dawn we’d herd them into the milking parlor, but first we’d...
An observation As Empowered Evangelicals, is the Vineyard becoming more evangelical than empowered? Some point to what they see as a gradual drift away from classic Vineyard Holy Spirit ministry. Maintaining a message of power with little practice of it. Personally I don’t think so. Some of...
The birth of a baby is both a blessing and an ordeal. Every expectant couple knows how nerve-racking, even perilous, at the same time incredibly joyful and fulfilling childbirth can be. All the couple can do is take care, be patient, and try not to...
What is success? Well to most Americans it means being a winner. In the church-world that means being big, well known and influential. If you read church history using this American definition of success there’s never been a successful church. It’s always been counter-cultural oddity. Biblically,...