Phil Steiger
Recently we learned about a crackdown in China in which more than 100 members and leaders of a church in Chengdu were detained. The pastor, Wang Yi, and his wife were charged with incitement to subvert the state and face real prison time. As it happens, Pastor Wang Yi prepared for this, and he... Continue Reading →
A long-term member of our church approached me just before service this week with a serious look on his face. Every pastor has had that moment. Service is about to begin, what is this about? He has never done this before, so I honestly didn’t have a sense of what was on his mind. ... Continue Reading →
Just a few days ago I had a fascinating day demographically. That’s an awkward sentence, so here is what happened. I had the privilege of doing the early morning devotional for a men’s residential rehab program. It is a ministry attached to a local organization that works with the homeless community, but this group of... Continue Reading →
Recently our staff wrestled with a philosophical shift. Like many churches our size, we have spent a lot of time and effort putting on events. Like calendar clockwork, we scheduled events for Easter, Mother’s Day, VBS, Fourth of July, Back-to-School, and the holiday season. After over a decade of doing that (something most church... Continue Reading →
Mark 4:26-27 “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts; he knows not how.” The Parable of the Growing Seed (ESV) I was reminded of this passage in a Dallas Willard video recently. Willard said it... Continue Reading →
Andrew T. Walker. God and the Transgender Debate: What Does the Bible Actually Say About Gender Identity? (The Good Book Company, Denmark. 2017) 174 ppg. The cultural issues swirling around the American and Western church require Christians and church leaders to have a new level of theological perception. If we believe our faith... Continue Reading →
Skye Jethani. Immeasurable: Reflections on the Soul of Ministry In The Age of Church, Inc. (Moody Publishers, Chicago. 2017) 215 pgs. The American Evangelical church is easily tempted by shiny things. For decades now we have taught ourselves a theology of church and the spiritual life that is only tenuously connected to Scripture. In... Continue Reading →
In the recent wrangling over new tax bills, non-profit organizations have found themselves thrown into the conversation for several reasons. One is the modification of the Johnson Amendment, originally passed to prohibit non-profits from explicitly endorsing candidates during the “normal course” of their activities. (The passing of the Amendment itself has a dubious and politically... Continue Reading →
Colin Hansen, Our Secular Age: Ten Years of Reading and Applying Charles Taylor (Deerfield, Ill: The Gospel Coalition, 2017). Arguably the most ambitious philosophical work in the last decade is Charles Taylor’s, “A Secular Age.” It defies simple description, but in it Taylor dissects the move toward secularism in the last 500 year of... Continue Reading →
Up until just a few months ago, possibly a couple of years ago, the dominate argument for homosexual behavior was, “I was born this way.” It was an assertion that had the pretense of being backed up by science. Never mind the science was dubious at best, it had the support of secular cultural elites... Continue Reading →
Every Thought Captive 