There’s more than one way to make your summer tomatoes last all year long.
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10 Reasons to Use the Telephone Rather than Email in Ministry
I appreciate email, especially because I can communicate with people around the world at the touch of the “send” button. So, I’m not arguing against using email. I’m arguing that there are still good reasons to use the telephone when doing ministry. Here’s why:
- The telephone often takes less time. I can usually ask a question, and get an answer more rapidly over the phone than I can by typing, sending, receiving, and responding to multiple emails.
- A voice can exude passion much more than an email can. If you want to convince someone to join you in a ministry task, you’re more likely to show your fire for the task in a phone call than in an email. Urgency in a voice goes a long way.
- Emails can be easily misread. We’ve all spent far too many hours explaining and re-explaining emails that recipients misunderstood. All the emojis in the world can’t take care of what a simple phone call can.
- An email can’t always do what ministry requires. An email in a time of grief or anger or questioning or fear might be a start, but it’s seldom the best way to minister to someone who needs to hear a comforting word.
- Ministry is about people . . . with names . . . and faces . . . and voices. Frankly, I have friends with whom I communicate often, but whose voice I haven’t heard in years. Even I as write these words, I realize that I’ve been missing a bit of who they are.
- A telephone call is almost unexpected now. We’ve become so accustomed to emailing that a phone call…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Thom Rainer.
Minn. pastor says its OK for parents to give kids a ‘good spanking’ for discipline
A column published last Saturday on theologian John Piper’s Christian theology website, Desiring God, by a Minnesota pastor argues that a “good spanking” should be an option for parents who want to discipline their children.
Sam Crabtree, a small group pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis who authored the 2019 book Parenting with Loving Correction, wrote in response to critics who oppose spanking and other forms of corporal punishment as methods of discipline for children.
While describing spanking opponents as “well-intended” with “valid concerns,” Crabtree argued that there is such a thing as “good spanking” when parents opt to discipline their children.
“… [M]any who oppose spanking sweep all corporal punishment into a single bucket without distinguishing between wise and foolish parental correction, as if factors like timing, dose, implement, and advance instruction make no difference,” wrote Crabtree, a former public school teacher and who serves as chairman of the board of the Bethlehem College & Seminary.
“Just as bad preaching doesn’t disqualify all pulpits, and bad writing doesn’t mean we should banish publishing, and a bad haircut doesn’t mean you should go Nazarite, so bad spanking doesn’t mean there isn’t good spanking.”
Crabtree went on to contend that a “good spanking” involves applying “a predetermined amount of physical pain in direct response to a child’s defiance.”
“Defiance starts in the heart and works its way out into…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.
Church gathers in kayaks, canoes for creative worship on water amid pandemic
A Pennsylvania church is drawing rave reviews online after its pastor allowed members to gather for worship in kayaks and canoes in the reservoir at Bald Eagle State Park.
In a Twitter post two Sundays ago, the Rev. Jes Kast of Faith United Church of Christ, which shuttered its church building as a result of the pandemic, revealed how she met with her congregants on the water and had “Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Good church.”
“We gathered as a church in kayaks, canoes, and paddle boards and prayed on the water. I preached in a kayak. First time ever. That was so cool!” Kast said.
Since the novel coronavirus pandemic began, many churches have been creatively navigating restrictions on in-person services with the help of online platforms and a variety of outdoor gatherings that allow social distancing such as meeting in cars in church parking lots or under tents.
Gatherings using kayaks, canoes and paddle boards is another way churches are finding community.
“This is amazing! Did you use any kind of sound amplification?” Ellen Di Giosia asked Kast on the…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – The Christian Post.
How an unforgettable message taught me what suicide is not
I’ll never forget a message slipped to me in a chapel service at work: “Allen committed suicide.”
That simple.
That direct.
I almost fell out of my seat.
Not Allen, one of my best friends. Impossible.
Yet somehow, the news pulled all the pieces of the past several years together.
It all seemed clear after that note. There were lots of signs.
But we all know the adage about hindsight.
Missing the signs
Allen and I had been best friends since high school. He had helped me move some furnishings from New Mexico to my home in North Texas. I remembered how during that long drive he asked me if I thought people who committed suicide went to hell.
Good grief. How clearer could a sign get?
Allen was a loner, a self-appointed exile in many ways. Likely, he had become dependent on prescription pain medication. He was struggling. Only a few weeks earlier, he had unexpectedly sent me some mementos from our high school days.
More signs.
But then he went through with it.
When I arrived the next day at the home of Allen’s parents, they asked me to conduct the graveside service. Their pastor was unwilling to do it because Allen’s death was a suicide. That pastor wasn’t sure what that meant about Allen’s salvation.
Many people mistakenly believe that suicide is the unpardonable sin. What does the Bible teach about this tragic subject?
What does God think about suicide?
My friend, Dr. Jim Denison, addressed this subject in Biblical Insight to Tough Questions Vol. 1. Here’s his clear and thorough answer:
God’s word consistently warns us that suicide is always wrong. Deuteronomy 30:19 is God’s command, “Choose life, that you and your offspring may live.” Job knew that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, that life and death are with God and not us (Job 1:21).
Paul teaches us, “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So, glorify God in your body” (1…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Denison Forum.
Attacked Christians in India Risk Arrest if Worship Draws Assaults
NEW DELHI, September 7, 2020 (Morning Star News) – Police in eastern India have threatened to arrest Christians for “disturbing the peace” if their worship draws more opposition after recent attacks, including one that has nearly cost an elderly woman her sight, sources said.
Complaining that Christian prayers have driven away their nature-based gods, tribal animists in Badaguda, Odisha state have repeatedly attacked 12 families since the Christians left their traditional religion two years ago. The 55 to 60 Christians in Koraput District have been sheltering together each night for the past six months, fearful of more assaults after villagers burned their makeshift church structure in March and beat men, women and children on July 21.
“The 12 Christian families have faced opposition almost every day since the day they decided to follow the Christian faith,” said their pastor, Ayub Khora, whose wife added that rarely a day goes by without church members facing verbal or physical abuse.
Two villagers assaulted a Christian family at 1 a.m. on July 21 and vandalized their home, only to attack again at 8 a.m. with about 100 others who came to the house where they had taken shelter and beat members of the 12 Christian families with wooden planks, Pastor Khora said.
Kanduru Muduli, 55, said that his son, Siba Muduli, opposed the family’s conversion and came to his home with another…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Candace Cameron Bure Says She’d Rather ‘Share Jesus with People’ Than Return to The View
Though the Emmy-winning show ‘The View’ is looking to fill its fifth chair, former host Candace Cameron Bure said she’d rather “share Jesus with people” than return to the popular show.
“I’m very grateful for that time in my life,” the 44-year-old actress said in an interview with Fox News. “But I don’t want to talk about politics publicly…Not because I don’t believe my viewpoints or opinions are important. I would much rather share Jesus with people. That’s my passion.”
Politics divide and separate, according to Bure. She would rather be in “a conversation about how to build a bridge.”
The Full House star also shared with Good Housekeeping that she doesn’t miss the show. “I love being on talk shows, I love hosting talk shows, but that was a hard job every single day, talking politics,” she said.
She left the show in 2016, stating that she was too busy with other projects, including the Netflix reboot of Fuller House and Hallmark movies. Joining “The View” was never part of her plan, but ABC executives chased after Bure for months.
“The funny thing is, sometimes what you end up doing is what you least expected,” she said, according to Faithwire. “I never pursued that show, but they pursued me, and it was very unexpected. I tried to say no; I did say no several times.”
Eventually, she saw it as “a challenge” and joined…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Tony Evans Urges Christians to Vote According to the Word of God
Pastor Tony Evans took to the pulpit on Sunday and preached a sermon of reflection and admonition, calling on the church to vote according to what the Bible actually says and not just according to a person’s personal opinion of the Bible.
According to The Christian Post, Evans states “The Kingdom perspective is in the Bible but the problem, he said, is that people who profess to be Christians often ‘change books,’ or take part of the book, when it comes to their political positioning. We can’t ignore ‘the whole counsel of God.’”
Evans also stated that “Until the Church gets it right, the culture can’t get it right.”
He went on to state:
“Kingdom voting is the opportunity and responsibility of committed Christians to partner with God by expanding His rule in society through civil government. It’s only to the degree that you include God’s person and God’s policies in society through civil government — as He defines it, not as you prefer it — that we can begin to see healing in the Church so that it can be modeled in the culture.
The further God is removed from the life of an individual, from the life and definition of a family, form the life and definition of the Church, from the life and definition of the citizenry of a society, the more chaotic those entities become.”
This sermon is the first in a new series which will focus on how to vote according to the…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Israel to Impose Curfews on Cities Where Coronavirus Cases Have Spiked
Israel is set to start imposing a curfew in some cities where coronavirus cases have continued to climb.
According to CBN News, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned for the curfews to take effect Monday, but health officials and politicians delayed the curfews.
The curfews will now begin Tuesday at 7 p.m. and end at 5 a.m. the next morning. Forty “red” cities have been identified and will be under the curfew. Those cities include Nazareth, Bnei Brak, Elad and Abu Snan.
Health officials did not say how long the curfews will remain in place. Under the order, nonessential businesses will have to close and people will not be allowed more than 500 yards from their homes.
Meanwhile, mayors of the “red” cities say the curfews target ultra-orthodox communities.
Haredi mayors released a letter Sunday saying that Netanyahu was trying to turn the cities “into disease vectors and enemies of the people.”
Health officials say the country could face a nationwide lockdown if coronavirus infections continue to climb. City leaders are especially concerned as the country will be celebrating the Jewish New Year in less than two weeks.
“I know these measures are not easy, but in the current circumstances, there is no escaping them,” Netanyahu said. “We will continue to take responsible steps that are required to protect public health, lives and the economy.”
As of Monday, Israel…
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Click here to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Christian Headlines.
Fears grow that the Black Death could spread into China as neighboring Mongolia reports third bubonic plague death – Urban Christian News
Fears have arisen that bubonic plague could spread into China after its bordering country Mongolia reports its third victim who died of the Black Death this year.
A 38-year-old man had died from the plague on Monday in Mongolia’s western Zavkhan province after eating marmot meat last month, said the local authorities.
It comes as China’s Inner Mongolia region, near the Chinese border with Mongolia, has recorded two deaths caused by the plague in August, prompting the authorities to impose partial lockdowns and quarantine residents.
Mongolian authorities have also declared at least 17 out of all 21 provinces in the country are at risk of bubonic plague, raising fears that the disease could spread into neighbouring China.
Bubonic plague, known as the ‘Black Death’ in the Middle Ages, is one of the most devastating diseases in history, having killed around 100million people in the 14th century.
The Mongolian man was infected with the plague after consuming marmot meat in Khuvsgul province in northern Mongolia last month, reported Chinese state media Xinhua, citing Mongolian provincial department of zoonotic diseases.
A total of 25 people who had close contact with the patient have tested negative for the disease, the officials said.
The country first reported a death caused by the bubonic plague in July, a 15-year-old boy from the western Govi-Altai province.
So far, the country bordered by China and Russia has found 18 suspected cases of the disease this year.
Meanwhile, China has reported two deaths caused by the plague since January.
On August 6, the Baotou city health…
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Click Read More to read the rest of the story from our content source/partners – Urban Christian News