I read about a well-known evangelist who passed away this week. Junior Hill passed away at the age of 87, after more than 68 years in ministry. Wow! As I looked at the outpouring of love and appreciation for his ministry, two words kept coming up: evangelist and encourager. His ministry of evangelism was most prominent. He would share the simple gospel of Jesus Christ, and then God would bless wit...  Read More

Romans 12:1 - I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. The word “therefore” harkens back to what Paul has previously said in chapters 1-11. He has described what Jesus did on the Cross by paying for the sins of humanity. The first 3 chapters explain how lost every person is ...  Read More

Baptist Press recently shared statistics about the power of mentors in the lives of young people. If a young person does not have a mentor, only 50% of them say life has meaning. 70% of young people say life has meaning who report at least one mentor. 86% of young people say life has meaning who report two to four mentors. This article was highlighting the importance of mentoring Generation Z (tho...  Read More

Lydia and I once had the opportunity to visit Yerevan, Armenia. While we were there, we visited a monastery named “Khor Virap” (which means “deep dungeon”), which is located on the border with Turkey overlooking Mount Ararat. The site is so beautiful that you can see the two mountains when the sky is clear. It's an incredible view from that position. Merchants in Yerevan, which is close to the loc...  Read More

Living in a democratic republic as a Christian American has a unique set of challenges. At times, we are misunderstood by Christians living in other countries, whose form of government is more of a dictatorship. Christians in these kinds of countries quote Romans 13:1, which says, “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities.” We are told to be more submissive as faithful Christians. Ho...  Read More

Alan Stein is a performance coach who has worked with world-class athletes. He once crossed paths with 5-time champion and NBA great Kobe Bryant at a basketball camp. Stein asked Bryant if he could watch him train, and Bryant told him to show up the next day at 4:00 a.m.! When Alan showed up early the next day, Kobe was already in a full sweat. Kobe was working through many of the same exercises t...  Read More

In his book The Law of Happiness, best-selling author and Christian psychologist Dr. Henry Cloud helps explain some of the traits found in people who live happy lives. We naturally think that we live happy or unhappy lives because of our circumstances. However, according to his research, that only accounts for 10% of our happiness. 50% is based on our natural wiring (our biological makeup). A full...  Read More

Remember the childhood experience of getting soap in your eyes during a bath? The moment the soap would trickle down, the natural reaction was to look down, which only made it worse. However, as parents, we've all told our young children to "Keep looking up." When trying to wash that young child's hair, if we could get them to keep looking up, the soap wouldn't get in their eyes. Well, when I read...  Read More

In Jesus Skeptic, award-winning journalist John Dickerson shares how Christianity has benefited society through the arts, through the scientific revolution, through developing hospitals and universities and much more. He writes, “We say that a fish doesn’t know what water is because water is all they have ever known. In a similar way, we who have been born into American or European cultures have a...  Read More

Ephesians 6:17 says, “And take…the sword of the Spirit, which is the word [Rhema] of God” This passage tells us that there is a powerful weapon that we are to take up like a sword to help us live in victory as Christians. That weapon is called the spoken “word” of God. This literally reads the “Rhema” of God, or a specific “word” from the general “word”. It could be referred to as the “spoken Word of God.” Romans 10:17 says that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word [Rhema] of God.”  Read More

This Psalm holds a special place in my heart as well, mainly because of the last verse, which states, "With long life will I satisfy him and show him my salvation." For many years, my dad would hold onto this verse, quoting it often, as he walked through physically declining years. His faith would be strengthened as he would remind me that he was holding on to this verse. So, I can say with William MacDonald that this is “my psalm” as well.  Read More

I read about the love story of Daniel Webster and Grace Fletcher. At the time, he was a poor lawyer who fell in love with Grace and began dating her. Grace's father was a clergyman and he allowed Daniel to visit only when he was present. So, they started dating in Grace's home, where she worked. Her job was to untangle knots in silk yarn, which was a time-consuming process. Daniel would sit with h...  Read More