This morning—perhaps even as you are reading this—I’ll be beginning the new academic year. My 30th as a college teacher. And fittingly, I think, I’ll be in the same course at 8 a.m. as I was in the fall of…
Jennifer L. HolbergSeptember 2, 2020
This past week I had four separate phone conversations with pastors in four different regions of the country. While each of these conversations was unique, they all had a hauntingly similar theme. That theme went something like this:“I’m so tired.…
Brian KeepersAugust 31, 2020
If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Matthew 16:24 (NIV) At first, I thought this Sunday’s essay would be easy. A missionary reflecting on Jesus talking to the twelve…
Rowland Van EsAugust 30, 2020
There were many things I was afraid of before I left for my study abroad semester in Chile back in the fall of 1996. Amidst a whole host of rational and irrational fears, the concern that troubled me most was…
Katy SundararajanAugust 29, 2020
“Walk with me?” she asked. “Sure.” I said, happy to give my procrastination an alibi. I shut my lap-top and we drove down to Governor Nelson State Park, our home-turf park not seven miles from the end of our driveway.…
Tim Van DeelenAugust 28, 2020
Commenting on the fall of Jerry Falwell, Jr. – whose mounting sexual and life-style scandals have now culminated in his forced resignation as president of Liberty University – might seem like shooting fish in a barrel. “The jokes write themselves,”…
David TimmerAugust 27, 2020
“Pray for friends, and fun.” The day before we drove 1100 miles to our new home and congregation in Palm Beach, Florida, my wife and I recorded a short video to say hello to our new community and invite them…
Jared AyersAugust 26, 2020
Fighting against heresy is a deep-seated part of church history. We maybe don’t like to think of Christianity that way. We prefer to present Christianity as the proclamation of Good News, of the Gospel, of peace and hope and joy. …
Scott HoezeeAugust 25, 2020
As I wheel a load of weeds past the six-foot fence that keeps deer from my husband’s vegetables, I sigh and mutter, “I’m discouraged.” “Why?” he asks, without looking up from seeding a row of carrots. “I spent all morning…
Carol Van KlompenburgAugust 24, 2020
