Conservative evangelical Christians sign on for immigration overhaul pitch

The goal is a system that’s both fair to immigrants who are here legally and compassionate to those who are not that provides eventual “earned” citizenship and border security.
“Dedicated Christians may disagree on what the solution is, but everybody acknowledges there must be a solution,” said the Rev. Rick Scarborough, an East Texas evangelist and head of the politically conservative Vision America.

Why Pastors Should Read Over Their Heads

What does this mean for you as a pastor? I can’t say for sure. But consider subscribing to a good journal like JETS or WTJ. Don’t dismiss every book that costs more than you think it’s worth. Plow through a book on your shelf that only makes sense half of the time. Find an area or a person you are really interested in and take a few months to read as much as you can. Try to peruse at least one scholarly monograph each year. And best of all, don’t be afraid to read the old, big books that these men and women are writing about.

Top 10 Things Preachers Love About Preaching

What do preachers really love about preaching? What aspects do they enjoy the most?
Some preachers may really enjoy and be fulfilled by counseling while another dreads even the thought of it. So I did a little informal and very unscientific survey of a rather large number of preachers. We contacted a wide range of preachers (ages, length of time preaching, many different regions).

Hearing God through Scripture – Lectio Divina

The main thrust behind Lectio Divina is to allow God to speak and guide us during the reading. That is why I use it: it is very much aligned to the concept of Whole Life Worship, especially to how I view Personal Worship time. Lectio Divina keeps the discipline of Scripture reading focused on the relational aspect of Personal Worship.

3 Things Your Parents Never Taught You About Adulthood

1. You live in a different culture than they do.
2. You learned more by what they did than by what they said.
3. Your parents never told you that you’d pick up some bad habits from them.

The wonderful reality of our adulthood is that we are always growing. Our parents influence us, but they don’t “make” us into the adults we are. The child you were is not the adult you have to be. The transition from child to adult is a transition of responsibility. Regardless of how healthy or how sick our family environment was growing up, our lives are now our own responsibility. We get to choose whose authority we answer to. Will it be the voices from your past or the voice of truth? And it is the great hope of our faith that not one of us is defined by our circumstances or our upbringing but by the transformative power of Christ in us.

What we remember from PowerPoint presentations, Part 2

The purpose of this week’s article is to show you how we can influence what people remember. Use these characteristics next time you create a PowerPoint presentation.

English requirement in immigration reform will test underfunded ESL system

There’s one issue, however, both sides agree on: The nation’s 11 million illegal immigrants will need to know English before they can earn permanent legal status, commonly referred to as a green card. And therein lies a barely discussed problem with the potential to overwhelm states and put up a barrier to immigrants who want to legalize: The nation’s English as a Second Language system may not be up to the task.