November 28, 2022
Do you ever feel like you’re missing something? While driving away from home, do you wonder if you left the lights on or forgot to lock the door? While preparing a meal, have you ever omitted an important part of the recipe? Matthew 9:36-38 mentions several missing ingredients. . . .
March 1, 2022
By Rick Lowry God created every person with a “community gene.” We all have a natural longing to be with other human beings. From an early age, we have known the value of being a member of a group. Everyone grew up in some version of a family, a place where we belonged, living with significant others who helped shape us. We are in community, in groups, every day: the staff team at work, the board or committee on which we serve, the Thursday night Bunko ladies group, the guys who gather to watch NFL games—all small groups that satisfy,
June 19, 2017
By Justin Horey Area 10 Faith Community was established in the fall of 2008 in Richmond, Virginia—a city incorporated in 1742. (The church takes its name from the designation local Realtors have for downtown Richmond.) Not surprisingly, in a city nearly 300 years old, there is no vacant land available for new churches to buy. Since its inception, Area 10 has met for Sunday worship at The Byrd Theater, a historic, 1,300-seat movie cinema. The Byrd is a local landmark, but it lacks space for children’s ministry and other church needs like offices. One month before Area 10 held its
June 28, 2016
By Mark A. Taylor The below piece, first posted here five years ago, still resonates with me as we approach the Sunday before the Fourth of July. As one commenter said when it first appeared, “Our patriotism is for our freedom and way of life in a free country; our worship is reserved only for our Creator God.” More than a decade ago, my congregation hosted a patriotic pageant each year called “Sea to Shining Sea.” We had a huge adult choir, a children”s choir, a live orchestra, actors, and dancers. We welcomed color guards from all the armed services.
April 15, 2016
By Mark Krause Why did the early church celebrate the Lord”s Supper every week? The answer to this is very simple, but for some Christians it requires a different way of thinking. Most believers are well acquainted with the church tradition and expectation of meeting together on the first day of the week. This weekly gathering is reflected in a term we sometimes use for a particular, local church, the congregation. This word literally means “those who gather together.” Churches are made up of members who assemble, who come together. But why? If you were to ask believers why they
August 26, 2011
By Dinelle Frankland Several weeks ago, the sermon series at my church brought us to the account of Moses sending 12 spies into Canaan (Numbers 13, 14). Despite the bright promise of overflowing milk and honey, not to mention the flawless history of God”s provision for his people, the majority of this party chose to dwell on the negative: there were giants in the land. Two weeks later I was seated on an airplane next to a friendly gentleman. I discovered he was a dentist and a member of a Methodist church. We talked about the changes we both have
July 2, 2011
By Mark A. Taylor More than a decade ago, my congregation hosted a patriotic pageant each year called “Sea to Shining Sea.” We had a huge adult choir, a children”s choir, a live orchestra, actors, and dancers. We welcomed color guards from all the armed services. We sang every patriotic song you know, including one that invited veterans from every branch of the service to stand and receive the cheers of the crowd. Fireworks accompanied the songs, and after the last note, everyone sat with necks craned to the sky and enjoyed 20 minutes of the rockets” red glare. Our
July 7, 2010
By Mark A. Taylor It”s summer, when days are long and nights are hot and every instinct says, “Slow down.” Some of us follow that lead, interrupting the grind of weekly production by taking breaks from school-year routines. It”s not that we stop thinking in summertime. In fact we may come across deeper insights when freed from the taskmaster of our assignment-laden, appointment-filled Day-Timers. Sipping iced-tea in the shade with our feet propped up and a good book or the Good Book on our lap, we decide afresh where to go and what God wants us to do. What should a magazine
May 31, 2009
An Overview of “Simple Church” by David Ray “Tis the gift to be simple,  “tis the gift to be free,  “tis the gift to come down where you ought to be, And when we find ourselves in the place just right, It will be in the valley of love and delight.1  If today”s church leaders were to tell the truth, many would admit they arenot “in the place just right,” because most churches have become anything but “simple,” and the stress in leading them is nothing like finding yourself in any “valley of love and delight.” Why? Because churches have
October 18, 2006
A young adult’s comment about wanting the “best speaker” raises a deeper question: have churches reduced Sunday to a sermon-centered product? With voices from theOOZE.com and 1 Corinthians 14:26, this piece calls for greater participation.
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