Reaction of the rich to the Notre Dame fire teaches us a lot about the world we live in

The next time someone tries to pretend like you need to choose between homelessness or immigration, nurses’ pay or a tax cut, a children’s hospital or a motorway, remember this moment. The money is there at a click of a finger. It just isn’t in our hands.

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Five Things That Masked the Death of a Church

1. The church had money.
2. Members still had their friends in the church.
3. Guests still came to the church.
4. Mission giving was still good.
5. Meetings were well attended.

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Enemies of the Cross Defeat Themselves

Conversely, where the gospel of Christ has been faithfully and humbly presented hospitals have been built, orphanages created, lives saved, marriages renewed, children fed, homes built, clean water delivered, addictions treated, the environment repaired. Children and adults have been educated, medicine has been delivered, infant mortality has decreased while deaths associated with childbirth have dropped. Works of visual and musical arts that have stood the test of centuries have been created, and are still being created. The pain of natural disasters has been assuaged. The list could go on.

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Are You a Pain Or a Joy?

• Coachable leaders get the concept of spiritual authority.
• Coachable leaders are action-oriented.
• Coachable leaders are humble.

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On Graying Toward Glory

I will keep my hair appointment because the cracks in this earthly jar are showing and I want to pretend, for a little while longer, I am more invincible than I am. But I think someday I will go gray, let the white tendrils of age grow or turn and prove I am not what I once was and by God’s grace I will not be tomorrow what I am today.

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5-star phonies: Inside the fake Amazon review complex

Amazon did not respond to our request for comment. But days after The Hustle sent emails to the company, thousands of the fraudulent reviews were taken off the site.
Among them were the 3,971 5-star reviews for the charger I purchased. The product now has 11 reviews and holds a rating of 2.5 stars.

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People were extremely disappointed when a local library clarified it’d be having ‘snacks’ and not ‘snakes’ at its anti-prom event

A library in Pflugerville, Texas, will be hosting an anti-prom event on Friday. But ahead of the festivities, the library had to issue a correction after a misprint in a local newspaper said that there would be snakes at the event, BuzzFeed News first reported.

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Texas woman allegedly attacks husband after getting silence when she asked if she’s pretty

Ramirez’s husband said he didn’t respond — as he didn’t hear her — which upset Ramirez, and prompted them to leave the theater.
During their ride home, Ramirez’s husband claimed she allegedly hit him repeatedly. At their home, she allegedly continued to hit him and even assaulted a family member who tried to intervene, according to the news outlet.

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The Five Hour Challenge: Turning Your Church Outwardly Focused

Here is my simple challenge: Commit at least five hours a week to evangelism and outwardly-focused ministries. Mark those five hours on your calendar like any other appointment. Make those five hours a priority. Do not come up with busyness and excuses that keep you from fulfilling your challenge.
This challenge should apply to all vocational ministers on staff. If you are full-time, commit five hours. If you are half-time, commit three hours (yeah, I rounded up).

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4 Facts Every American Should Know About Third-Trimester Abortions

1. Third-trimester abortions are already protected by federal law.
2. State laws restricting third trimester abortions are unconstitutional under the precedent of Doe.
3. The Democratic Party officially supports keeping third-trimester abortions legal.
4. Overturning Roe and Doe won’t end all third-trimester abortions.

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Say what? Newborn would be ‘resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired’

Now, I realize that this news is not — for many mainstream journalists — as big a threat to Western Civilization as a small flock of Catholic teens chanting school cheers in response to a barrage of nasty, homophobic and racist insults by grown-ups in a truly radical religious sect.

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The Golfless Millennials

The fact is many a big church is filling up with people who, like the Millennials with golf, haven’t got – or won’t give – the six hours a week that is required for smaller, local churches to survive. Those smaller churches are the spiritual equivalent of a nine hole course in your average suburb.

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Ethnicity Blights Democratization and Nation-Building in Africa

There is the false idealistic argument that with the establishment of liberal democracy in Africa, tribalism and ethnic difference would fade as people begin to identify themselves primarily with their country, as opposed to with their ethnic groups. However, mutual suspicions among the diverse ethnic nationalities within African countries and the lack of cross-cutting social relationships have not engendered liberal democratic ideals that would lead to nation-building.

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The Christian Life Is More Like a Bus Ride Than a Motorcycle Ride

It’s hard to sing karaoke by yourself. If you like to travel by yourself, then nothing beats the freedom of a motorcycle. You can zip in and out of lanes, cut through the annoyance of construction traffic, go where you want, how you want, and as long as you want. But it’s hard to sing karaoke by yourself. Traveling by bus is slower. You have to wait for others to get on board. You can’t always have the seat you want. You can’t go as fast on the road. You can’t change lanes too well, pass others at will, have the final say on where to stop for food, and of course, someone always has to go to the bathroom. But the karaoke can be a blast!

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Begin with the End

In the past, however, it wasn’t this way. If you wanted to see a graveyard you wouldn’t go to a “memorial park” located somewhere away from daily living. Instead, you’d go to church. In the past, graveyards were created right around the church. It was a sobering reminder that what was talked about inside the church had a direct bearing on where you’d be someday outside the church. Cemeteries were holy ground.

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How to Write a Shareable Sermon: 5 Tips to Greater Impact

1. Make it Short
2. What’s the Point?
3. Tell a Story
4. Use a Bible Passage
5. Be Quotable

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Let Children Get Bored Again

Once you’ve truly settled into the anesthetizing effects of boredom, you find yourself en route to discovery. With monotony, small differences begin to emerge, between those trees, those sweaters. This is why so many useful ideas occur in the shower, when you’re held captive to a mundane activity. You let your mind wander and follow it where it goes.
Of course, it’s not really the boredom itself that’s important; it’s what we do with it. When you reach your breaking point, boredom teaches you to respond constructively, to make something happen for yourself. But unless we are faced with a steady diet of stultifying boredom, we never learn how.

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Recreations of Famous Paintings of Myths Using Only My Children’s Toys

Sarah Scullin is grateful to her son Isaac for his assistance on this project, for letting her borrow his toys, and for accepting that sometimes her job is weird.

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Why deprived communities need more than a social gospel

The biggest issue facing any of us is the problem of sin. Our biggest need is the gospel. That is not to minimise the very real problems that people in deprived communities face, it is just to say that eternity is much longer and the reality of Hell much more serious. The social gospel does nothing for the eternal soul of those we are reaching. It may help some of their immediate issues, but it does nothing for their deepest and longest term problems.

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The Ugly Coded Critique of Chick-Fil-A’s Christianity

Narrow-mindedness of this sort is alarmingly common on the left. A few years ago, a well-known progressive commentator mused to his large Twitter following that sometimes he wishes all the Christians would just disappear. I would like to believe he was simply too uninformed to realize that he was wishing for a whiter world.

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Why Christians Blogs Aren’t What They Used To Be

Today fewer people are beginning blogs in the first place and more are abandoning the ones they began in the past. A recent check of my favorite sites found almost 30 that have gone dormant in the past few months. What’s happened? There are many possible answers and I’m sure they are as unique as the lives and circumstances of the individuals. But let me suggest a few.

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Was Gnosticism Tolerant and Inclusive? Debunking Some Myths about “Alternative” Christianities

As we have seen here, the real Gnosticism was very different. And it reminds us that perhaps Gnosticism failed not because it was politically oppressed by those crafty orthodox folks, but because it simply proved to be less attractive to those in the earliest centuries who were seeking to follow Christ.
Or, as F.F. Bruce famously quipped, “The Gnostic schools lost because they deserved to lose” (Canon of Scripture, 277).

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Going Into All The World Is Something To Be Learned

The call to go into all of the world, I felt, was always for others. I liked the idea. My intention was to be a contributor toward it. But I didn’t believe that God could do for me what I saw Him doing for others. Yet, He will, He can, and He does… for every one of us. I don’t blame you for holding back or holding out. But I encourage you to want to learn how to develop His personality within yours that such a tandem might go all over the place…into all of the world.

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Heaven Would Be Hell Without God

Surely no one who had actually been in heaven would neglect to mention what Scripture shows is its main focus. If you had spent an evening dining with a king, you wouldn’t just talk about the place settings. When John was shown heaven and wrote about it, he recorded the details — but first and foremost, from beginning to end, he kept talking about Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb, with infinite gravitas and beauty.

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Find a Table and You Might Find Redemption

The early church continued the practice of “breaking bread.” And so can we. The meal fellowship at table was an important part of the life of the church because it was an important part of the life of Jesus. When we share the story around a table with others our eyes—and theirs—may be opened too.

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Every good work

That’s the heart of good work: Make a good product or deliver a good service for the good of other people. That can be true whether you’re flying a plane or making a sandwich for a hungry customer. Men and women made in the image of their Creator are hard-wired for productivity.

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3 Rules I Use to Stay Productive and Not Overwhelmed

1. Start with the end in mind
2. Find leverage with routines, habits and technology tools
3. Learn to say no

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Penn State says wilderness is too risky for outdoors clubs

The Penn State Outing Club, originally founded in 1920, announced last week that the university will no longer allow the club to organize outdoor, student-led trips starting next semester. The hiking, camping and other outdoors-focused activities the student-led club has long engaged in are too risky, the university’s offices of Student Affairs and Risk Management determined.

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