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Like Ezekiel, we step into the suffering of humanity with eyes wide open, but we don’t stop there. We believe that bones can live. Crazy as it sounds. Indeed, “foolish” according to the apostle Paul; yet, it’s true. The most tentative and enfeebled Christian has power to speak life into dead bones. Why? Because Jesus[…]

In this inaugural podcast of 2020, we consider why the victory of Christ makes our most terrifying fears nothing more than a hollow threat.  

How does Advent contribute to peace? The Church univocally confesses that it comes through the Babe in the manger whom we call Lord. This is the bedrock on which true peace is established. But in what way is incarnational peace ‘spread to all the earth abroad’? Here is an example from history. Friar Antonio de[…]

I sat in a pew this past Sunday looking up at Paul, an intern from many years ago, as he prepared to pray. Sitting beside me was our missions festival speaker, Collin, also an intern from those ancient days. It was a memorable moment in which to thank God for the privilege of participating in[…]

“Pastor Chris, what is the single most important need of your church?” “Catechesis,” I respond. The puzzled look that usually follows becomes an unspoken invitation to explain. “It’s a tradition that goes back to the early centuries of the church,” I tell them, “a process of prayerfully and carefully imparting the Christian faith to children and[…]

I recently grabbed coffee with an old friend in which conversation turned to the relationship between Scripture and faith. After hearing his numerous questions concerning biblical authority, I responded with the words of Paul in Romans 10:17: “faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” In other words, Scripture is the God-appointed[…]

It was time. Since the fourth century, Christians have toured the land of Israel. “It is like visiting the home of a beloved friend,” one pilgrim suggested. “No matter how well you know the person, you understand him better having experienced his native environment.” So we landed in Tel Aviv on Monday afternoon and made[…]

In Charles Schulz’s classic, It’s a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, a memorable exchange unfolds as Linus pens his annual letter to the Great Pumpkin. “When are you going to stop believing in something that isn’t true?” inquires Charlie, to which Linus retorts, “When you stop believing in that fellow with a red suit and white beard[…]

The resurrection of Jesus renews life with glorious purpose and inspires a new mode of living—to showcase hope, pursue justice, defend the vulnerable, and advocate on behalf of the weak—activities that revolve around a central message: “the crucified Savior is now alive!” It is an Easter morning faith that changes everything. As I prayed for[…]