A Cushy Job

Our church has hard wooden pews, so it was good news when Rev. Watkins announced, "The Ladies Fellowship will refurbish the pews with cushions." Then ...

First-Time Preaching

As a first-year seminarian, I was invited to preach at a local church--only my second time in the pulpit. I was extremely nervous when the big day arrived. ...

Worship Needs to Simmer

Rod Cooper writes:

When I was about 10 years old, I had the privilege of getting up at 4 a.m. to get the cows so we could milk them. As we came in for ...

Big Mistakes

Some misplaced quotation marks were largely responsible for these interesting items in our church bulletin announcing two new classes and their locations: ...

The Power of Caring

From 1986 to 1990, Frank Reed was held hostage in a Lebanon cell. For months at a time Reed was blindfolded, living in complete darkness, or chained to ...

Liturgical Dissonance

Christian liturgy should intensify the "cognitive dissonance" between the community of faith and the world surrounding it.

The Witness of an Opthalmologist

The greatest witness for Jesus Christ that I know anything about in the city of Dallas is not a preacher. He's an ophthalmologist. He was in the power ...

The Honest Lawyer

Recently, I was walking the streets in San Mateo, a small town on the San Francisco peninsula. I met an attorney I knew from a local evangelical church. ...

Mashed Potatoes Need Salt

My wife and I do a great deal of entertaining, particularly with students. Once as we sat down, I looked at my wife and her face went absolutely white. ...

How to Make a Horse Drink

I dare you to eat one pretzel. All I have to do is to pick up one of those things, and I'm hooked. The salt in that pretzel creates a desire for more. ...