Feds spend more on immigration enforcement than other crime agencies

Spending on immigration enforcement, which includes everything from screening visitors to the United States to deportations, has increased 15-fold since 1986, when President Ronald Reagan signed a bill into law that legalized 3 million immigrants and for the first time required employers to verify their employees’ immigration status. Though the law attempted to stop illegal immigration from the Southern border, the waves of migration continued, peaking in 2000 at 1.7 million border apprehensions. Since 2005, the number of Border Patrol agents has doubled, and deportations have increased.

The Death of The Mall and The Future of Church Buildings

A Boomer church leader looks at a small building and limited acreage and sees challenges. He sees the limitations of size and space. A Millennial leader looks at the same building and acreage and sees opportunity. He immediately thinks multiple venues, multiple services, and multiple days.

Showing Grace When Evangelical Leaders Speak Intemperately

The larger question is twofold: (1) Do those who make such statements later regret them, and (2) does the spasmodic off-remark invalidate a person’s entire ministry?

Stopping Gossip In 7 Ways

Here are 7 ways to stop gossip:

• Don’t repeat something you don’t know is true firsthand…secondhand knowledge is not enough to justify repeating. You will get something wrong and it will hurt others.
• Don’t repeat unless its helpful to do so and you have a vested interest in the situation, the people involved, and permission to share…doing so in the name of a prayer request is not a good excuse…
• Don’t “confess” other people’s sins. Even if the wrong included you and you feel the need to confess, share your story, but not someone else’s.
• If you must tell, and have passed the test on the first three suggestions, tell only what happened and not your commentary or “I think this is probably what happened” or why you think it happened…
• Choose to pray for others every time you are tempted to tell their story…instead of telling their story…
• When someone tells you something you don’t need to know, don’t allow curiosity to be your guide…follow your heart. Stop the person and tell them you don’t want to know! Remember, if they will spread gossip about others they will spread it about you!
• Keep the circle of confession limited to the people involved or to no more than needed for accountability purposes. The wider the circle and the more the story is repeated the more likely things will turn into gossip.

Practicing What I Preach

When pastors think about evangelism, we tend to assume our primary role is to equip others to evangelize, or to evangelize from the pulpit. While those roles are important, I knew I needed to do more.
Paul told Timothy, “Do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5). Paul is saying that we leaders need to engage unbelievers, and I am challenged by that mandate. Sure, I do that from the pulpit, but all church members have incredible opportunities to share the gospel in their community and workplace. I have those opportunities, too—but I had to do something to find them and to connect with folks far from God.

Famous Bible Translation Mistakes Throughout History

Proverbs 2:16 reads “To deliver you from the adulteress, from the sexually loose woman who speaks flattering words.” In the first printing of the New English Translation, there is a footnote at the end of this verse with a 1-800 number. The translator was writing the notes for this verse on his computer when he got a call and, not finding a pen, typed the call-back number in these notes. He forgot to delete them.