An Elder Named Mr. Hudson
For a time, I worshipped with a small Presbyterian Church in America congregation in a suburb just inside the beltway of a major city. Attendance varied from a low in the upper teens to forty plus on a well attended…
Tag Christian Living
A Word to Those Judging the Church
I enjoy the little story tucked away in Acts 12:12-17. It appears between King Herod’s tirade (Acts 12:1-11) against the church and his death for blasphemy (Acts 12:18-24). Oddly, it’s a humorous little story. Peter, having been miraculously freed from…
Be Careful, Your Theology is Showing
“When I see what you’re wearing, your theology is showing.”[1] Does that statement leave you in dumbfounded confusion? I don’t know about you, but last I looked in my closet, none of my clothes outline the finer points of total…
Rob Ventura’s Equipped to Evangelize
Editor’s Note: Christian Focus has graciously supplied us with a chapter from Rob Ventura’s forthcoming book Equipped to Evangelize: A Biblical Foundation. Ref21 will publish portions of chapter one along with endorsements over the next several months in anticipation of its September…
My Jesus Poster
In college, I lived with seven of my best friends in apartment Nu 8, “The Ocho.” Our living room was placarded with posters displaying our various passions: a Pulp Fiction scene with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson pointing pistols at a…
Paedobaptists are Credobaptists
In our judgments of individuals, the Scriptures offer various binaries: one is either a child of God or a child of the devil (Jn. 1:12; 8:44; 1 Jn. 3:8–12; Matt. 13:38); one either has the Spirit of Christ or does not have the…
When Great Men Collide (Review of When Christians Disagree)
Following the tumultuous years of the mid-Seventeenth Century, two titans of English Puritanism left an especially enduring imprint upon church history. For centuries, many Protestant ministers have dedicated feet—yes, feet—of shelf-space to the published works of both John Owen (1616-83)…
The Ministry of Presence
Chaplain Mike Gilson in the Spiritual Care Service unit of San Diego’s Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center shared about his visits with a Vietnamese patient and husband who both spoke little English. The wife had terminal cancer, but later on…
Ten Petitions and Praises about the Sabbath
The prayers of a Sunday morning service offer a perfect context to encourage both gratitude for the Sabbath and renewed ambitions for the Lord’s day. If you are a pastor or elder seeking to encourage thoughtfulness about the fourth commandment,…
Twelve ways to promote the Sunday evening service
Do you have an evening service at your church? Is so, and especially if you are a Reformed pastor or elder, you’ll likely be wanting to encourage better attendance at your church’s Sunday evening service. Many of the Young, Restless…