Churches want to grow. It would be difficult to find a congregation that doesn’t at least say they want to grow. Now, some may not actually want more people, but that’s a different article. However, in an effort to add to the numbers, too many churches are forgetting that there is a war to be fought, and not just a battle for increasing numbers in the bulletin. Churches need to stop making their first question, “How can we get more people?” Yes, we need to care if more people attend. Yes, we need to desire for more people to come to a saving knowledge of Christ. Yes, we need to…

It is said that history has a tendency to repeat itself. If this is truly the case then we should not be surprised when we see ourselves right smack dab in the middle of an age-old problem, facing the same results that the people of the past had to face. Years before there ever was a reformation there were voices. These voices paved the way for what Luther and Calvin and the rest continued to pursue. But the price they paid in failing to conform to the political and religious powers and influences that ruled in their time led in each and every case to their eventual deaths. Peter Waldo…

We have been at it for a little over ten years.  Faithfully, every Tuesday afternoon at 1:00, a group of ladies of various ages meet in the large classroom at the Central Church of Christ to study the Bible.   I’m sure there are a lot of you reading this who are now thinking – “so what, we do the same thing, just at a different time on a different day.”  I’m sure that’s true, and I am certainly not trying to say that our class is more beneficial that yours.  I’m writing this post hoping that it will encourage many more to just study the Bible. After taking about…

They came to visit our congregation a few weeks ago.  There was an older lady and a young woman with her two small children.  They called the church bus for transportation and it wasn’t hard to figure out that they hadn’t been anywhere to worship in a long time.  I’m not sure the children of the younger woman had ever been in a church building.  Some would say, “they didn’t know how to act.” They have been fairly regular in their attendance since they began attending, and I might add that they have put most of us to shame concerning inviting people to worship with us.  They regularly bring people…

This morning I was watching the coverage of the funeral for the policeman who was recently shot and killed in California. At the end of the service, there was a presentation of an American flag to the victim’s widow. Standing next to her was the victim’s brother. In a moment that was so heart wrenching, I watched the serviceman do the very thing I thought was most needed in that instant. After presenting the flag he gave the young widow a modest but meaningful hug. Then he gave the brother a hug. I wanted to hug them too, and I have never even met them! Witnessing these thoughtful expressions reminded…