Contributed by Anne Benefield on Jan 24, 2008
From time to time we hear statistics about how people first came into church membership. These figures trace back to the Institute of American Church Growth, which asked 10,000 people about their pilgrimage. What led them in? The answers were: special need, 2%; walk-in, 3%; Pastor, 6%;
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Denomination:
Presbyterian/Reformed
Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2008
based on 1 rating
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Americans are drowning in debt. Consumers have racked up more than $2.2 trillion in purchases and cash advances on major credit cards in just the last year. And it's become a habit for them to spend more than they have. The overall credit card debt grew by 315% from '89 to '06. To compound the
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Contributed by Charles Wallis on Jul 8, 2008
Some neighbors were having a party for the baby's baptism. We did not agree the theology of infant baptism, but we sent a card to show friendliness and be a witness. They had a pretty rowdy party that got pretty loud. At one point, someone said, "We should have baptism parties!"
We need to
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Denomination:
Pentecostal
Contributed by Vonnie E James on Aug 27, 2008
Hurricane-Type Fear
After Hurricane Ivan 2004, one of the main factors people looted was because of fear--not just fear, but irrational fear. Why irrational? Because the country was full of food, and there was not a need to loot.
Secondly we saw a lot of waste happened months and sometime up to
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Denomination:
Baptist
Contributed by Jim Kane on May 18, 2009
FAREWELL, PRESIDENT
An on-line friend directed my attention this week by to a recently published note by one of our nation’s most distinguished church historians, Dr. Martin Marty on the eve of President Obama’s inauguration. It was titled, "Farewell, President" and in it he quoted the late
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Denomination:
Church Of God
Contributed by Ed Vasicek on Aug 10, 2009
A recent Time article (July 09) read:
"Have economic times gotten so bad that some of the dead are going unburied? Several large counties across the country are experiencing unprecedented increases in the number of unclaimed deceased - not only because the dead people could not be identified, were
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Denomination:
Independent/Bible
The problem for Isaiah, however, is that the filth and corruption was not outside Jerusalem, it was in it, in the hearts and on the lips of his people. That was the reason for all the invasions of Assyria and Babylonia. The kings of the north would be a purifying fire that would purge the sin
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Denomination:
Catholic
Contributed by Mark Opperman on Jan 21, 2008
based on 5 ratings
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-Author Mark Mittelberg tells about a man named Jim who wanted to do things God’s way. Jim had a passion for God, a love for people, and a burden to share the message of God’s forgiveness with people who had not heard. The big question for Jim was, “How can I get unchurched people who are so
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Denomination:
Assembly Of God
Contributed by Sermon Central on Jan 19, 2002
based on 6 ratings
| 2,132 views
A couple of weeks ago, our small group got together for a movie night. We watched “Unbreakable,” the latest movie from the writer and director of “The Sixth Sense.” In this movie, Bruce Willis discovers that he has a special gift, but he doesn’t yet know how to use it. So his new friend, played by
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Contributed by Sermon Central on Jun 11, 2002
based on 2 ratings
| 3,323 views
Celebrities tend to misbehave in tiresome and predictable ways--tantrums, affairs, addictions--and we tend to think they’re spoiled. But one psychiatrist, Cornell’s Robert B. Millman, says they’re not spoiled, they’re sick. The affliction is Acquired Situational Narcissism.
ASN develops when
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Contributed by James Wilson on Nov 23, 2000
based on 125 ratings
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Recently I heard Dieter Zander, the pastor of the first GenX church in America speak at a conference about reaching people in the age of relativism. He cited a Barna study that asked people to use single words to describe Jesus. They responded, "wise, accepting, compassionate, gracious, humble."
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Baptist
Contributed by Steven Chapman on Jul 6, 2005
It’s a lesson that this familiar song from 20 years ago taught us.
“Making your way in the world today takes everything you’ve got
Taking a break from all your worries sure would help a lot
Wouldn’t it be nice to get away?
Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name
And they’re always
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Denomination:
Christian/Church Of Christ
Contributed by John Raulerson on Oct 6, 2005
based on 2 ratings
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Recently I watched a show on the history channel which biographied one of the greatest counterfeiters even known, Mark Hofman. As a pre-med student in Salt Lake City he claimed to find a letter which came to be known as the “White Salamander Letter” which discredited the Mormon Church. He
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Denomination:
Evangelical/Non-Denominational
Contributed by Sermon Central on Apr 10, 2006
based on 6 ratings
| 1,992 views
Believing things ’on authority’ only means believing them because you have been told them by someone you think trustworthy. Ninety-nine percent of the things you believe are believed on authority. I believe there is such a place as New York. I could not prove by abstract reasoning that there is
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based on 1 rating
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Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe is a former pastor of Moody Church in Chicago who
For years was the General Director and Bible Teacher for the “Back to the Bible” radio
broadcast. In A TIME TO BE RENEWED he summarizes a life of thanksgiving and praise so well in reminding us: “Some people are
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Denomination:
Methodist