Articles for tag: Simon J. Dahlman

May 13, 2014

By Mark A. Taylor Don”t count CHRISTIAN STANDARD among today”s crop of church bashers. Even when we don”t headline our cover with “I love the church,” we make a point of encouraging the local church and its leaders. But posts at our site this month give special reasons to feel positive. For example, we couldn”t agree more with Bob Russell”s local-church cheerleading. Think of all the dysfunction and distress our world would face without the healing and help the church has extended through the centuries. Then there”s Kent Fillinger”s annual update on the state of megachurches and other churches among

December 5, 2007

Christian Standard

Worship Worship & Prayer

Holly, Jolly, and Holy?

By Mark A. Taylor My church”s annual Christmas pageant is wonderful. It engages its audience as well as any Broadway play with compelling pictures of the stable, the Baby, angels in the air, shepherds peeking into the manger, and regal Magi processing through the aisles. But the first 20 minutes or so of the evening is far removed from Bethlehem. It”s a bouncing, laughing, dancing, show meant mainly to remind us that this, indeed, “is the most wonderful time of the year.” In past years, this first act has featured a rollerblading Frosty, a rapping Rudolph, or a ballerina ascending