We were so thankful for Central livestreaming its worship services this past Sunday. Let me give you the quick backstory. I preached at Central Sunday morning and then our family took off on a trip. Our elders were gracious in giving me a few days off to travel to Texas to meet our new nephew, who was born last week. Our plan was to drive about half-way, go to worship somewhere locally, and then finish our trip Monday morning. However, our “timing” was off in one place to stop for worship (partially because many congregations in that area have not restarted Sunday evening services yet) and, as we continued down…

Today’s post is a simple request, but hopefully one you find benefit from. The request is this: please subscribe to Central’s YouTube channel. Now…why would you want to do that? In other words, what is there for you? Currently, we have four major things that you can expect on a regular basis: All worship services (as you would expect). We stream our entire service, so you can join in from home, go back and watch later, or simply find a sermon and watch the lesson.Adult Bible classes. Currently, all our adults are meeting together for class and that is also streamed, then archived. Hopefully, when we open up more, we…

[Editor’s note: this post, as you will see, is a bit dated, but the message is timeless, so we shared it anyway. -Adam] I am typing these words just a few days after our most recent national election. As I type them, I have absolutely no idea who the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. will be after January 20th of next year. The race for the highest office in our land and other contests are still undecided. By the time you read this, the decision(s) may already be made. However, also by the time you read this, there may still be some repercussions from all of this. Some of…

[NOTE: This post is my bulletin article for the Central Church of Christ for this upcoming Sunday. I do not usually re-use material in this way, but I have had the idea for this post on my mind for a long time, so I decided to share it in both locations. -Adam] Just a few years ago, we never could have imagined having such a resource as social media. Though email was a big deal, the reach and impact of such sites as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is nothing short of remarkable. None of these sites is good or bad in themselves, but how they are used decides the proper…

I am writing this on Election Day 2020. Scanning social media just before I started writing, I saw post after post after post about the election (I even wrote one). It’s been that way for weeks, if not months. Additionally, there have been a slew of posts about the virus, and, in fits and starts, about social justice and unrest. If you were to think back for, say, the last 6 months, wouldn’t you agree that those topics have utterly dominated your social media timeline, as well as, likely, your face-to-face conversations? And, that’s fine. They are all huge stories and have vast importance to our personal lives as well…

Early in the pandemic in England, one wildlife park had five parrots donated within just a few days of each other. Pressed for space, the park put the five birds in the same area and the birds got along well. However, when the park recently reopened to the public, the zoo had a problem: the birds had spent the last few months alone, and had “taught” each other to use rude and profane language. So, in an attempt to keep things family-friendly, the zoo recently had to take the birds off of display. For about seven months now, we have been holed up and, even if we are out and…

It may seem to be a little (or a lot) disingenuous to see a post on social media from somebody who has fairly recently limited his exposure to social media, but that is what is going on here. Sometime in the distant past I signed up for an Instagram account and a Twitter account. I have no idea why I did that because I may check Twitter once every month or so and cannot remember the last time I “just browsed through” Instagram. About the only social media platform I still use on a somewhat regular basis is Facebook. Not long ago, I made a significant change in how I use it. I made…

Dear Christian Facebook Friend, I was scrolling through your social media pages today. I wasn’t stalking; I just wanted to see what you shared with the world and learn more about you. (After all, we’re “friends,” right?) As I scrolled, I learned… …how you feel about masks during the pandemic. …how you feel about the President. …what you think about the Republicans and Democrats in this election year. …what your opinion is on reopening schools. …what your dog looks like. …what your reaction is to the racial protests across our nation. …that you took on a yard project last week (and it looks great, by the way). …how you are…

I am typing these words not long after sending a text to somebody who “got slammed” by some people because of a Facebook post. To be fair, some people were complementary of what was posted, but some were not. Some were even, in my opinion, very unkind. The response I received to my text indicated the motive behind the original post. In part, the text read: I was trying to invoke critical thinking. I’m not really sure where my response to that text came from. It just kind of popped into my mind. For what it’s worth, here it is: Some should do a lot more thinking before - or instead of - being critical.…

Social media is on fire with traffic. While that is always the case, the fact that many people have more time at home is causing many to consume more social media, interact more on social media, and share more on social media. In a lot of ways, that is good. We can gain some encouragement, teach the Gospel, and simply interact with people in ways that help us be uplifted and to have some level of attachment that we are missing. However, in our flurry to post-especially about the coronavirus-we can begin to share things that not only fail to help, they can be downright dangerous. The thing is, though,…