Christian Experience

After Jesus called the twelve disciples they travelled together throughout Galilee while he taught the crowds and healed many suffering from a variety of diseases. Word of his miraculous ministry drew onlookers along with others seeking his healing power. He made paralytics walk. He loosed those...
The Presbyterian church in which I was converted over 20 years ago began in the United Presbyterian Church in North America (UPCNA) in the early 1950s, became a UPCUSA congregation when the UPCNA merged with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) in 1958, then stayed in the...
Every Place is a Place to Talk about Jehovah Several weeks ago, I had a very embarrassing interaction at a small Asian restaurant in my town. I was grabbing lunch with one of the elders from Christ Presbyterian Church to have a time of fellowship. After we prayed for the meal, a very kind old lady...
I recently finished Luke Timothy Johnson’s The Mind in Another Place: My Life as a Scholar (Eerdmans, 2022). I was eager to read it. I am always eager to read an autobiography about the intellectual and scholarly life of a person so accomplished and prolific as Johnson. The author provides a list...
Review: “God loves us even though we are spiritual failures.” True, or false? We would all agree that God loves us, His children, who have been saved and reconciled to Him through faith in Christ. Certainly, we do fail in many ways by doing what we should not and failing to do what we ought. But...
Your training program is now in place. You have identified places in your life that need special focus in pursuing godliness and purity. At least one coach motivates you to keep at it. You even have an accountability partner, running right alongside you. Success at this “Christian life” marathon...
I cannot recall how many times I met people who honestly told me that they did not want to have children because children would just interfere with their lives. They viewed children as a burden, rather than a blessing. In fact, a certain woman frankly told me that she was too selfish to have a...
Context, Context, Context Christians can be guilty of making pithy statements of a theological nature that require a lot of explanation for the phrase to be accurate. If an explanation is not offered, we are sometimes demanding a lot of the reader to put all the pieces together. And readers aren’t...
You have been entered into the marathon. You have been given a number. You have taken your mark. The starting gun has been fired. Uh oh. This particular marathon will prove to be much harder and longer than the norm. Twenty-six miles, shortness of breath, leg cramps, and moments of regret somewhere...
It has been little over a year since I began to serve my first congregation in Grove City, PA. However, I feel as though it was only yesterday that I had led my first public worship service, preached my first sermon, administered my first Lord’s Supper, and enjoyed my first fellowship meal with my...