"For all of its foibles—-lousy preaching, political infighting, self-centered focus, stagnation, a gaggle of special interest groups—-the pokey local church...is still the most fertile environment for spiritual development. In fact, there can be no genuine spiritual progress without a long-term
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 2 ratings
| 2,205 views
SCRUBS CHRISTMAS VOICEOVER
The cast of the TV Show Scrubs have done a number of satirical looks at various things. The did a voice over of "Charlie Brown’s Christmas" and Dr. Cox does the Linus soliloquy which originally was the story of Christmas from the gospel. This post-modern version [IMHO]
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
Consider "The Christmas Pledge" in Jo Robinson and Jean Staehali’s book Unplug the Christmas Machine. They write, "Believing in the true spirit of Christmas I commit myself to:
• Remember those who truly need my gifts
• Express my love in more direct ways than gifts
• Examine my holiday activities
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
CHRISTMAS PANTS
I told you about a pair of guys who had exchanged the same pair of moleskin pants for over a decade. Each year they tried to outdo one another with the only rules being they couldn’t damage the pants and they had to use scrap material. I’d left the story with Kunkel having received
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
Pete Peterson was the first U.S. ambassador to Vietnam after the war. But it wasn’t his first time in Hanoi. Peterson was a POW from 1966 to 1972 at the prison camp named "Hanoi Hilton". When asked how he could return to the land where he’d endured years of starvation, brutality and torture, he
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
One cannot escape any number of jokes and misunderstandings when it comes to the concept of prayer. Most of us have heard about the child who believed God’s name was Harold because each week they prayed, "Our Father who art in heaven, Harold be thy name". Likewise, there is the story of the
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 3 ratings
| 2,072 views
CASUAL CHRISTIANS
Barna defines these folks as those who perceive their Christianity as "faith in moderation. It allows them to feel religious without having to prioritize their faith. Christianity is a low-risk, predictable proposition..., providing a faith perspective that is not demanding. A
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 2 ratings
| 2,041 views
WHAT DO YOU SEE?
I don’t know if you’ve heard of Scott Ginsburg, but he is known for something very strange. As of today, he has worn a "Hello my name is..." tag for 3140 days. On one occasion he had given a speech to an employee group in South Dakota and told how he started wearing the name tag.
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
George Barna has shown his skill in taking the pulse of the church in the US for years. April 2 of this year he published a new book titled The Seven Faith Tribes: Who They Are, What They Believe, and Why They Matter. The tribes Barna identify are the seven tribes include Casual Christians, Captive
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
YOU DON'T HAVE TO SEE TO BELIEVE
Mt. Diablo is only about 3,500 feet, but it is very noticeable as it sits all alone in the Concord, California valley. Before I called them "God sightings" I found myself caught up in an "aha" moment as I looked at the cloud covered Mt. Diablo. I couldn’t help but
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
ELF
In the Christmas movie Elf the title character discovers he was a human baby raised by elves. He travels back to New York City to find his bio-dad, in the process learns, and teaches others about caring. Will Ferrell describes his journey by saying, "I passed through the seven levels of the
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
More than a decade ago, Matt Thom, a few helpful young teens and me conceived of and set in motion a tree house for our back yard. The tree had a great section where branches came together but it wasn’t large enough for a good side platform. Instead, we placed four 12’ pressure treated 4x4’s around
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
The first time I helped my dad prep a car for painting I got the glamorous job of wet sanding it by hand. I got done, went in the house and my dad said, "Are you done?"
I got my usual senior high ego in a twist and said, "Of course. It wasn’t that hard." After lunch, my dad went out to look at the
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 3 ratings
| 1,763 views
Let’s learn how to gain perspective. Look at this paragraph. Most of us can read it even though most of it is misspelled. This is because as long as a word has the right beginning and ending letter it is usually readable provided the words are in a person’s common vocabulary.
Aoccdrnig to
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
One pleasant surprise while in Mexico last month was seeing a total lunar eclipse. It would have been nice to have had Rick’s telescope down there but most nights there was just too much light from the area to really see many stars. Yet, as the moon took on its orange glow from the shadow of the
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 3 ratings
| 3,574 views
I did a review of holiday specials for December 2-the 16th. These don’t include all the “musical” specials or worship services. They are the run-of-the-mill specials we saw as kids and subject our grandkids too. I counted 62 totals in those two weeks. Of these only four had any direct reference to
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 3 ratings
| 6,775 views
“A survey of 7,000 people, conducted by the sponsorship Research International in six countries found that the Shell Oil logo, the Mercedes badge and the five Olympic rings were recognized far more widely than the Christian Cross. McDonald’s golden arches and Shell’s glowing yellow shell were
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 3 ratings
| 1,439 views
. The New York Times reported, “one sagging electrical line near Cleveland, Ohio, connected with a tree branch at 3:32 p.m. on August 14, 2003, beginning a chain of events which led to the largest blackout in American history.” And there were those who though it might be terrorism.
The paper
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
based on 7 ratings
| 4,481 views
CHRISTMAS SIGNS
- From a toy store: "Ho, ho, ho spoken here."
- In a bridal boutique: "Marry Christmas."
- Outside a church: "The original Christmas Club."
- From a department store: "Big pre-Christmas sale. Come in and mangle with the crowd."
- In a Texas jewelry store: "Diamond tiaras: $70,000.
...read more
Tags:
Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
Sermon Central