In Sermon Illustrations: "Absent From The Body"

Jeff Bezos, 36-Year-Old Founder Of Amazon.com, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

Jeff Bezos, 36-year-old founder of Amazon.com, shared the following 5 time management tips in the Wall Street Journal. Set aside Tuesdays and Thursdays as your own, without any regularly scheduled meetings. Break your routines. Visit Stores. Scrutinize your own Web site. Learn from unexpected ...read more

Tags: Workplace Balance

Gen-Y Graduates: The Echo Boom Began Graduating ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 10, 2006

Gen-Y Graduates: The Echo Boom began graduating from College last May and they will change our culture. Experience is everything to them. Traditional media won’t work. The most effective businesses offer them an experience, not just a product. Bookstores are popular gathering places for them, but ...read more

Tags: Workplace

United In Opposition: According To Barna ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 16, 2006

United In Opposition: According to Barna Research, there are many attitudes in which Christians are not distinct from non-Christians, but in their most recent study abortion and homosexuality are not among them. The survey found the following: 75% of born again adults say abortion should be ...read more

Traps That Hinder Leaders: Dale Galloway ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 16, 2006

Traps That Hinder Leaders: Dale Galloway enumerates these hindrances to relational ministry in his book On Purpose Leadership, Beacon Hill Press. Insecurity—Selecting only those people who have the same gifts as the leader—or lesser gifts. · Elitism—Developing a “leaders only” attitude that keeps ...read more

Tags: Leadership General

Women Avoid Negotiating: These Figures Are Taken ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

Women Avoid Negotiating: These figures are taken from Women Don’t Ask, Negotiation and Gender Divide. 2.5 times more women than men feel “a great deal of apprehension” about negotiation. Men initiate negotiations about 4 times as much as women. When asked to pick metaphors for negotiations, men ...read more

Tags: Women

What A Difference A Century Makes! In 1904: ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

What A Difference a century makes! In 1904: ►The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years. ►Only 14% of the homes had a bathtub, 8% had a telephone. ►A 3-minute call from Denver to New York City cost $11. ►There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S. and 144 miles of paved ...read more

Tags: Hardship Of Life

There Are An Estimated 66.3 Million Fathers In ...  PRO

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 18, 2006

* There are an estimated 66.3 million fathers in the U.S. today. * There are 25.8 million fathers in married-couple families with their own children under 18. * There are 2,000,000 single fathers, up from 393,000 in ‘70. Today, 1-in-6 single parents is a father, vs. 1-in-10 in ‘70. * 105,000 ...read more

Tags: Parenting

Consumer Trends: Two Major Trends Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006

Consumer Trends: Two major trends of paradigm-shifting proportions are changing the face of the entire consumer retail market today. Every consumer business is going to feel the effects. Trend #1: Connecting replaces cocooning as dominant consumer trend. The cocooning and nesting trend that is at ...read more

Tags: Church General

Episcopal Turmoil: A Growing Number Of American ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 20, 2006

Episcopal Turmoil: A growing number of American Episcopal churches are leaving the Episcopal Church U.S.A. and aligning themselves with the Anglican Church of Uganda. The rupture occurred over the Church’s decision last year to permit the blessing of same-sex unions and to consecrate an openly gay ...read more

Tags: Unity

Giving By Foundations Hit A Record Last Year, ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Giving By Foundations hit a record last year, reversing 2 years of declines thanks to gains in asset values and continued gifts from philanthropists. The nation’s 66,000 independent, community and corporate foundations gave $32.4 billion in ’04 vs. $30.3 billion in ’03, an inflation adjusted 4.1% ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Wal-Mart, With Sales Of $285 Billion, Accounts ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Wal-Mart, with sales of $285 billion, accounts for 8% of all U.S. retail sales, excluding autos and gasoline, and is expected to hit 12% by ’10 when sales will hit $500 billion. Al Meyers, Retail Forward VP, says the company “will have a material influence on gross domestic product” by ’10-’11. ...read more

Tags: Money

Online Donations To The Biggest U.s. Charities ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Online Donations to the biggest U.S. charities surged 63% last year from ‘03, finds a new Chronicle of Philanthropy study. The 164 groups surveyed raised a combined $166.2 million online. That is less than 1% of the total raised by most of the charities, but the growth will spur more online ...read more

Tags: Giving General

Teen Gifts: A Stored Value Systems Inc. Study ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 27, 2006

Teen Gifts: A Stored Value Systems Inc. study reveals 93% of American high-schoolers have received at least one gift card in the last year. Of teens that receive a gift card, 59% use it up in the first month, in the first visit. A majority of teens spend up to 10% of their disposable income on ...read more

Tags: Children

Confusing Beliefs: Although A Statement Passed By ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

Confusing Beliefs: Although a statement passed by the Presbyterian Church (USA) 2001 General Assembly affirmed salvation through Jesus, recent survey results from the denomination reveal some puzzling beliefs among its clergy and laity. The survey found that at least 70% of members, elders and ...read more

Tags: Truth

Church Influence On Teens Nominal: New Barna ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Feb 3, 2006

Church Influence On Teens Nominal: New Barna research finds that 56% of teens say they attended church-related activities an average of two or more times per month prior to turning 13. Most likely attendees were those living in the South or Midwest. 26% received general information about God, such ...read more

Scripture: Ephesians 6:1, 1 Timothy 4:12-13

Tags: Children, Obedience

Sometime When You're In An Airport, Observe The ...

Contributed by Jim Kilson on Feb 18, 2006

Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, pace, and pace. The ...read more

Tags: Aging

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ

It Happens Every Time The Prof Calls A Group Of ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006

It happens every time the prof calls a group of students to the board to solve a physics problem. Someone holds the chalk wrong and sends chills up and down the spines of everyone in the class with that familiar classroom torture technique: "squeaky chalk." Why does a piece of chalk produce that ...read more

Tags: Emotions

I Am Steadfastly For Monogamy. Adultery Is Almost ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006

I am steadfastly for monogamy. Adultery is almost certainly going to make a dent in trust and intimacy, and in many cases I’ve known, it has destroyed them altogether. A woman who is conducting a secret affair has to become deliberately deceitful...like a CIA agent or spy. She can’t just come home ...read more

Tags: Marriage Commitment

Sometime When You're In An Airport, Observe The ...

Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006

Sometime when you’re in an airport, observe the difference between passengers who hold confirmed tickets and those who are on standby. The ones with confirmed tickets read newspapers, chat with their friends or sleep. The ones on standby hang around the ticket counter, pace and smoke, smoke and ...read more

Tags: Prayer Adoration

Those Who Call Themselves "Pagans" Describe Their ...

Contributed by K. Edward Skidmore on Apr 18, 2006

Those who call themselves “Pagans” describe their faith as a “modern faith recently reconstructed from beliefs, deities, symbols, practices, and other elements of ancient religion. Some of the main examples of this pagan revival include the following: • Druids: base their religion on the faith ...read more

Tags: Cults

Denomination: Christian/Church Of Christ