March 13, 2026
Terrence Turman argues friendship is a neglected spiritual discipline for many pastors and ministry leaders. Citing research on loneliness, he offers practical nudges for living as a Christian first, building community, and keeping friendships alive.
The public may have lost confidence in higher education more generally, yet I believe we may be entering another golden era in Christian higher education.
November 18, 2025
Many indicators suggest that there is an encouraging surge of curiosity in the supernatural, spiritual hunger, commitment to Jesus, and church attendance.
May 2, 2025
After binge listening to the Joe Rogan podcast, Tyler McKenzie offers a few insights he gained from his listening experience.
January 7, 2025
After binge listening to the Joe Rogan podcast, Tyler McKenzie offers a few insights he gained from his listening experience.
September 1, 2022
By Megan Rawlings When I was a child, probably around the age of 10, I perceived a few natural phenomena as threats to me on my journey to adulthood. For example, I spent hours researching and watching videos on how to escape quicksand and run away from volcanic lava. I didn’t realize, though, that neither of those was a threat to me in my southern Ohio hometown! I have prepared for one natural disaster my whole life, knowing that living in southern Ohio it was possible (notice I did not say “probable”). I could experience a tornado. I knew that
August 24, 2022
Churches and colleges can pay a flat rate, based on their size, and register their entire "family" for the International Conference On Missions. Also, briefs from SpireConference, churches in Indiana, Missouri, and California, and updates from several Christian colleges (Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan, Lincoln, Kentucky, Louisville, Central, Johnson, and Boise).
March 1, 2022
By Kim Harris The years 1981 and 1997 don’t have a lot in common. Both years followed presidential elections, but 1981 inaugurated a new president while 1997 welcomed back the leader from the previous term. Both years saw advancement in space exploration with 1981 witnessing the first space shuttle flight, while the Mars Pathfinder landed in 1997. However, it seems the differences between those two years far outweigh similarities. The cultural environment across sports, entertainment, pop culture, economics, and politics shifted significantly during that 16-year span. One thing that didn’t change in that time, though, was the most common baby
May 1, 2021
Like it or not, many seats remain empty on Sunday morning, and rather than stew about it, we should do something about it. Now is the time to chase strays.
April 1, 2021
I visited many churches for various reasons during 2020. In quite a few houses of worship, I experienced roughly the same thing. As the doors opened, I could feel vibrations from the percussion and bass in my chest. The smell of coffee would drift toward my nose and awaken me. The welcoming team would greet me and ask about my week with genuine interest. “Don’t forget to check in on social media!” they would say. Sign-up sheets for “groups who do life together” and other activities to “get involved” were on strategically placed tables. Finally, I’d enter the sanctuary, grab
October 24, 2020
The headline “51% of Churchgoers Don’t Know of the Great Commission” from a Barna report in March 2018 caught my eye and caused me great concern. The report said that for 25 percent of churchgoers, the term “Great Commission” sounded familiar, but they could not remember the meaning of it. Only 17 percent of churchgoers said they had heard of the Great Commission and knew what it meant. Although not even half of any age group knew the term Great Commission well, the youngest adult generation was the least likely to recognize it. Only 10 percent of millennials (those born
September 22, 2020
What Will We Do If God Doesn’t Restore His Church to ‘Bigger Is Better’? By Kim Harris As I sat on the back deck on one of the cooler evenings in July, I compulsively picked up my phone for my routine post-dinner scroll through Twitter, my only connection to the world outside my COVID-19 bubble. I assumed my timeline would again be filled with petty debates about the efficacy of different mask fabrics, some sort of hashtag challenge designed to drown out the contentiousness in the world, or a friend from high school selling skin-care products. I expected to sigh
By Kent E. Fillinger CLICK HERE to download the printable version of this list featured in “The Final Word” of our July 2020 issue. The votes of white evangelicals impacted the last presidential election in a measurable way. A Lifeway Research study determined 4 of 5 such voters (80 percent) cast their ballots for Donald Trump in 2016. But it’s wise to understand that “evangelicals” are not a homogenous group. The same LifeWay study found that 4 of 5 black evangelicals (82 percent) voted for Hillary Clinton, while Hispanic evangelical voters were evenly split—47 percent Clinton, 48 percent Trump. Looked
March 11, 2020
Ethan Magness, senior minister with First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tenn., gave the opening prayer on March 4 in the U.S. House of Representatives, WJHL.com reported. Magness’s prayer is available at YouTube. U.S. Rep. Phil Roe (R-Tenn.), who hosted Magness at the Capitol, called Magness “a great religious leader in our community.” “It was great to have him here in Washington to share the word of God this morning,” Roe said in a statement. _ _ _ Point University has named a music lab in its fine arts building for a local man who has donated 16 pianos to
January 29, 2020
How Northeast Christian Is Seeking to Redefine Church Around the Cross-Shaped Love of Jesus _ _ _ I was a stranger and you invited me in. _ _ _ By Tyler McKenzie Outsiders consider people inside the church to be extreme and irrelevant. That’s according to recent research about perceptions of Christianity in America conducted by Barna Group and its president David Kinnaman. You may disagree with these descriptors of churchgoersextreme and irrelevantbut perception is reality to some degree. Outsiders either despise us or don’t care about us. We clearly have a PR problem on our hands. The extremist label
January 8, 2020
By Kent E. Fillinger Jesus told the parable of a man who planned a great feast and invited many people to attend (see Luke 14:15-24). When preparations were completed, he sent his servant to tell his invited guests, “Come, for everything is now ready.” Surprisingly, the people on the guest list made multiple excuses for why they couldn’t attend. This angered the master, who told his servant to invite the poor, crippled, blind, and lame to come. After they arrived, there still was room. So, the master told the servant to invite anyone he could find to come to the
June 12, 2019
Compiled by Chris Moon and Jim Nieman Barna Group has released its list of “The Most Post-Christian Cities in America: 2019.” Eight of the cities and/or metropolitan areas are in the Northeast, while two are in the far West. The top three “Most Post-Christian Cities” are Springfield-Holyoke, Mass., followed by Portland-Auburn, Maine, and Providence, R.I./New Bedford, Mass. The Friendly Atheist website celebrated the news and referred to the list this way: “These are the cities where religion is most likely to be considered an afterthought.” _ _ _ News Briefs Two of our universities recently made Niche.com’s list of the
May 22, 2019
Training Multiple Generations of Women to Carry Their Swords and Use Them Properly By Megan Rawlings The alarm wakes me early on a Saturday morning. A few minutes later, I grab my Bible and race out the door, headed to a Bob Evans an hour away. I pray as I drive, asking God for boldness and that my millennial heart will be content with him receiving all the glory. I walk into the bustling restaurant and sit down in a booth across from a new disciple of Christ. The waitress brings me my usual, a cup of half coffee, half
April 25, 2019
By Gary L. Johnson I hadn’t finished breakfast and had already heard of three crises facing our nation. One news commentator spoke of the growing crisis at our southern border, while other reporters spoke of global warming and opioid crises. And some commentators questioned whether these were crises at all. It caused me to think of a real crisis facing us as Christians: How does the church reach and keep the next generation for Christ? In recent years, we’ve experienced a definite decline in the number of young people coming to Christ, while increasing numbers of Christian young people have
February 27, 2019
By Kent E. Fillinger A year or so ago, one of my teenage daughters had several of her friends over for a sleepover. During the night, the girls decided to play a game. My daughter pulled Scattergories, which was new to her, out of the closet, and in the girlsâ™ rush to play, they decided to forego reading the directions. Instead, they came up with a way to play based on what they thought made sense. Not reading the directions first resulted in a hodgepodge game with no winner. There were a few arguments along the way, due to the
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April 28, 2026
Rick Cherok
April 28, 2026
David Faust
April 28, 2026
Rick Cherok