March 2, 2025
Walk a Little Farther
Has your faith become complacent? Is your lifestyle a bit too predictable and comfortable? Is the Lord nudging you to do more, give more, or risk more? Don’t quit if the Lord wants you to walk a little farther.
Articles for tag: Neighborhood Outreach
August 21, 2017
The Urgency of Sledgehammering Strongholds
(This is a sidebar to “LOVEtheLOU: Demonstrating and Declaring the Gospel in North St. Louis.”) By Walt Wilcoxson It”s not a tree you would pick to help beautify your yard. The bark on much of the trunk is gone, carved away, no doubt, by knives of North St. Louis neighborhood kids as a way to mourn the loss of a friend shot down in the street. On the bare wood are carved the initials of the victim of violence on Enright Avenue. After the shooting, the tree became a makeshift memorial, a place to remember. But over time, the gathering
December 9, 2016
I Could Totally/Never Do That!
By Jennifer Johnson Two mistakes are easy to make when reading B.J. Leonard“s story. The first is to think you could never do what he did””give up your dream house in the suburbs to move into the inner city with your wife and three young kids. The second is to believe you could totally do what he did because you”ve romanticized it as a sequel to The Blind Side. B.J., his wife, Mary, and his daughters aren”t reaching out to urban Decatur, IL, because it”s easy, but they”re also not doing it to experience the warm fuzzy feelings of “saving”
June 7, 2016
Fresh Air This Summer
Mark A. Taylor Summer”s here””or almost, anyway. And by June, most of us, unfortunately, have given up on all those resolutions we considered January 1. Well, how about a fresh start? Summertime is the perfect time to try something new or do something special. Break the routine and give your spiritual life a boost. Here are six possibilities for fresh air this summer. 1. Â Spend the summer with Jesus. If you”ve bogged down on the Bible-reading plan you began in January, set yourself a summer goal. The Bible books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John contain 89 chapters. Start this
December 19, 2014
From Jaded to Joyful
Brian Jennings I knew how the game worked. Someone would walk into our church office, request to speak to a preacher, ask for prayer, and then tell a dramatic story of misfortune. They needed money and they needed it now. Their sister was dying of cancer in Nebraska. Their job interview started in 20 minutes on the other side of town. Their friend betrayed them and they needed a hotel for just one night. Each new crisis dealt me two options: cruelty or gullibility. Would I shun compassion or stewardship? The scenario repeated daily. The issues of poverty defeated me.
October 4, 2013
Extra Time, Attention a Step in Right Direction
By Jennifer Johnson Raise your hand if you”ve ever felt guilty because you don”t want to be a foster parent. I firmly believe Christians should be leading the way in fostering the needy kids in our communities. In fact, one of the moments I knew I wanted to marry Matt was when he initiated a conversation, during a road trip a few months before our actual engagement, about being foster parents someday. But fostering is not for everyone, and it”s certainly not for everyone at every time. Matt and I just wrapped up a successful first year of a new
June 9, 2013
Our Missional Experiment
By Greg Hubbard It was shared life with a purpose. We laughed together. We cried together. We prayed together. We ate together. When somebody around us had a need, we spontaneously served them together. Meaningful spiritual conversations were frequent. We caught a glimpse of kingdom life as we had rarely experienced it before. In the early 2000s, a church known as Apex came to experience all of this in Las Vegas, Nevada. Quite a journey had brought us to that place. Apex began as an outreach of Canyon Ridge Christian Church as a means to reach young adults. At first
December 30, 2012
Great Open Doors
By Brian Mavis Where do you think God is asking us to join him? What great doors of effective work has God opened in the United States? It”s a question based on a biblical concept. In John 5, Jesus said the Father is always at work, and he, Jesus, looks to see where God is working and joins him in that work. In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul said he would stay longer at Ephesus because a great door of effective work had opened up (16:9). In Jesus” instructions to the church in Philadelphia, he said he had
