Gospel of John 12 – Jesus Anointed at Bethany

One thing I never realized about this story was that Bethany literally means, “House of the poor”. That possibly makes the events of this story so much more meaningful. If Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are not very well to do, this magnifies the sacrifice of an already costly gift. This makes even more sense of [...]

An Interesting Interview with Rob Bell

Thanks to Philip for sending this link. Bell talks about everything from the end of the Nooma series, new projects, how he looks at content and saying more with less, the challenges of church leadership, Christians in society and assembly, etc, etc. Whatever you think of Bell, there are some interesting insights in the interview [...]

Raw Emotion – The Raising of Lazarus from the Dead

There is little more mystifying and moving to me as the tears Jesus shed with Mary just before he raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11. Wouldn’t you think Jesus would have had more of a chuckle rather than tears? The kind of wink, wink…you are crying now but wait and see what I [...]

The Shortcut of Changing the Labels – Christian vs. Christ-follower

In John 10 Jesus has some tough words for the Pharisees in response to their poor reception of the man he healed from blindness in John 9. I wrote up quite a lengthy post detailing what was going on in John 10, Jesus as the good shepherd and the gate and all the rest…context, historical [...]

Adventures in Missing the Point

After hitting myself on the head twice in two weeks, the first time walking into the edge of a metal sign, I ran across this picture and thought it was pretty fitting. Don’t miss the subtitle. It is priceless.
I think two questions are important to answer when it comes to faith and religion:
1 – What [...]

John 9 – Mud in the Eyes Christians

After reading and re-reading the story of the man born blind in John 9 today I am struck by the power and authority of Jesus combined with the blind man’s willing obedience. Our faith is a partnership of unequals. We can’t even take credit for listening and doing because without his command we wouldn’t have [...]

Two Free E-Books for Men Struggling With Pornography and Sexual Addiction

Pornography and sexual addiction is the elephant in the room in many congregations around the country. I heard one statistic that as many as 50% of Christian men in America struggle with some form of sexual addiction. How many men is that in your congregation if that statistic is true? That adds up pretty quickly. [...]

What is Christianity – A Great Resource Free to Download

Here is a link to Steve Williams book What is Christianity. Steve used to preach at University City Church of Christ in Gainesville, FL and teaches at Amridge University (formerly Southern Christian). It is currently out of print but has been provided to download/print. It is an excellent resources that highlights our core beliefs in [...]

The Ex-Church of Christ Support Group

Did you know there is an ex-church of Christ support group online? I think this is pretty interesting because there is much we can learn from mistakes, misunderstandings, and our differences. You can find anything there from ICOC horror stories to all sorts of discussions on doctrine. Another interesting section is the “New Paths of [...]

On This Rock I Will Build My Church – Matthew 16:18

There has been a lot of ink spilled over the issue of which “rock” Jesus is talking about in Matthew 16:18. Why not spill some more? First let’s have a look at the text. [To the left a picture of the Gates of the underworld in Caesarea Philippi.]
“13When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea [...]