Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jul 14, 2008
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The hard-hearted listener is cynical. Often they have done a fair amount of research to support their unwillingness to hear the word. Or they may have had a personal trauma that left them without faith.
There is a woman in New York City that I counseled during a particularly difficult time in
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jul 14, 2008
One of the most difficult problems Protestant churches are experiencing is the lack of denominational loyalty. Protestants regularly church-shop. If the preaching isn't good enough, or the youth group isn't large enough, or the music isn't glorious every week…then we search for a church
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Contributed by Anne Benefield on Sep 4, 2008
"I'm No Moses!"
When I received my call to go into ministry, I was praying. Immediately, I rejected the call, telling God that I was a business person, not really minister material. I knew how to speak about marketing. I knew a bit about managing people. I could talk about that. On and on I
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Sep 4, 2008
When I was in New York, I taught confirmation. I’m delighted to announce that Scott Roby and the confirmation teachers are planning to use the materials (updated, of course) that I used. The strength of the curriculum is that each student has a mentor, an adult from the congregation.
The young
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 15, 2009
The first time I had to speak in public was when I was in fourth grade. The elementary school I attended was part of the college down the street from my house. I think I was a shepherd in the college's presentation of "Amahl and the Night Visitors."
I was pretty nervous--scared, really--about
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 15, 2009
When I first came to Geneva, I was struck by how many attractive older women there are here. I thought they must have been strikingly beautiful as young women. When we had our 40th anniversary, I got to see pictures of our lovely women. They were all attractive, still I realized that they had grown
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 19, 2009
Two old friends met one day after many years. One attended college, and now was very successful. The other had not attended college and never had much ambition. The successful one said, “How has everything been going for you?”
“Well, one day I opened the Bible at random, and dropped my finger
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 19, 2009
I found a story called “Pushing the Rock” told by Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. It is the story of a weak, sickly man, who could not afford to go to the doctor and his condition seemed to grow worse.
The man lived in the deep back woods in an old log cabin. Out in front of his cabin was a huge
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 19, 2009
Finding God in Hardship
A dear friend of mine has been out of regular work for a couple of years. She has found enough temporary work to stay a float, but it has sometimes been a week-to-week challenge to pay the bills.
As we were talking the other day, she said to me, "I am walking through my
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 29, 2009
Our topic today is worship and service. I’d like to begin by telling a true story that happened to Reverend Forrest I. Sears. He writes:
Wilma had been a member of our church for many, many years. In her later years she needed the assistance of a cane to help in walking. As she was talking
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 29, 2009
Alan Peters explains:
Whenever Christian believers gather together to worship, they create the opportunity for a miracle to occur. Worshippers who have experienced this miracle describe it in a number of ways:
• “We all seemed to be thinking and feeling the same things.”
• “There was such
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 29, 2009
A pastor named Wayne Field asks a series of profound questions:
“What would happen if we applied the same standards of loyalty to our Christian activities that we expect from other areas of our lives?
If your car starts every three tries, is it reliable?
If the post carrier
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Feb 4, 2009
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SOLONG'S FAITH
I gave blood on Friday. A lovely woman named Solong sampled my blood to insure that I had enough iron. We struck up a conversation, and it turns out she is a Christian. She told me that in 2006 she felt God calling her to go back to school. She didn't have enough money to go, but
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 4, 2009
Here’s an interesting thing: What often irritates us in someone else is what we do ourselves.
You know that I am very close to my younger sister Jean, who is also a pastor. Years ago, I noticed that when we were on the phone, she would sometimes “checkout” of the conversation. I would know
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 4, 2009
There is no more powerful example of hating someone for what we are guilty of doing ourselves than the story of David and Bathsheba. David sees Bathsheba and decides he must have her. She is a married woman, the wife of Uriah. David has many wives. To cover his sinful relationship with
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 4, 2009
Several workplace-related studies in 2008 suggest that the majority of working Americans aren’t all that fond of whom they work with.
• When asked if a colleague has ever tried to make them look bad, 50 percent of respondents said yes; 48 percent said no; 2 percent said they didn’t know.
• When
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 5, 2009
I WILL, WITH GOD'S HELP
I read a marvelous story remembered by Reverend Mary Moore Roberson. She writes:
"Some years ago, I served on the lay staff of my home parish under the supervision of the priest charged with pastoral care. Barbara took to appearing, first at the door to his office and
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 5, 2009
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NO ONE STOPPED TO HELP
This past week in DC, a frightening thing happened. In a bad neighborhood where drunkenness and drugs are wide spread. Three men got into an argument, probably about a bottle of beer. One man was punched. They called it a "sucker punch." The man fell backwards and hit
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Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Anne Benefield on Mar 5, 2009
NO-CUT AUDITIONS
Dick Sanderson is kind enough to give me a subscription to Leadership, Real Ministry in a Complex World. It is an exceptional magazine. This quarter there was an insert that carried a story called "A Cast of Thousands" by Lillian Daniel. She writes:
"At my daughter’s
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