Archives for 2013

Thanks, Greg, for sharing this (in the comments)! I'd rather have Jesus than anything this world affords today... … [Read more...] about Jesus Is Better

Dr. David W. Manner is the Associate Executive Director for the Kansas-Nebraska Convention of Southern Baptists. He blogs at  http://kncsb.org/blogs/dmanner . You can follow him on Twitter:  @dwmanner.  In retail, a loss leader is the practice of offering goods or services discounted at or below cost in order to draw consumers in. The strategy is that drawing them in will hopefully lead them to buy additional items at a higher price. Churches are formulating final plans for meaningful Easter worship services at the end of this week knowing they will potentially impact more attendees than … [Read more...] about Loss Leader Easter Sunday (by Dr. David Manner)

Alan Cross blogs at Downshore Drift.  I am thinking about this week and the story it tells in the Christian life and how we live according to an alternative reality that is rooted in Heaven and not this world. Tomorrow and Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments involving the legalization of Gay Marriage in America. That is not a small issue. We debate politics, the economy, and who has power and who does not. Christians live in a world that is telling and living by a story different from what we see in Scripture. What are we to think? What are we to do? I think that the … [Read more...] about Easter Story: Sin/Suffering, Cross, Resurrection, Ascension, New Creation (by Alan Cross)

Okay, confession time. I'm a musical theater geek. In my small Baptist college, I was in the communications department, which included theater. I was Arvide Abernathy in "Guys and Dolls" (thankfully, no video exists). I played a dynamite pirate in a summer children's theater production (Aargh!) and performed what is generally considered to be the worst-ever performance of the  balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet during a class. A rose by any other name, and all. I've written and produced plays (at church, not Broadway, of course). My two youngest children both got involved in show choir … [Read more...] about Biblical Christianity Needs Both Javert and Valjean.

Darkness. Deadness. A lonely grave. That is what I feel when I say I’m battling depression. I feel almost nothing; save for that tinge of guilt and remorse that I feel for feeling nothing. Beauty is lost. Almost everything seems pointless and hopeless. Somewhere in the recess of my being I know that the darkness is distorting everything. Yet that small voice of reason is silenced by the apathetic screams in my head. Occasionally I experience fear that the darkness will not break and this ever-pursuing monster will finally swallow me whole. I read Psalm 88 today. At least … [Read more...] about Conquering the Lonely Grave