[Today’s post is the fourth in our “The Church and…” series. Paula Harington. Paula writes regularly for Forthright magazine, and also has a personal blog, “Thinking Jesus,” with uplifting articles. She is the author of Sunday Afternoon with the Preachers’ Wives, a book designed to give personal reflections for the wives of preachers and from the wives of preachers. Paula, the mother of 5, also is a regular on a podcast called A Better View, a roundtable podcast with 3 Christian ladies (search for it on iTunes). We are grateful for the time she took in writing today’s post. You may find her blog here.] Recently, I heard of an effort…

“You’re too young.” “Don’t touch that.” “You don’t understand yet.” “You’ll be able to do that some day.” As a parent of two small children, these words are said very often in our house. Of course, we are trying to help our children grow and mature, but there are certain things that are dangerous, or that are truly too hard for them at this point. However, children can still learn! While there may be a long list of things children cannot yet do, there is a long list of things they can do and learn! Here is a starter: 1. Children can learn love. I try to tell my children “I…

[NOTE: The first part of this article was penned originally by John Gipson. The paragraphs at the end, that are in italics, are the ones I added for our local bulletin.]I recently was handed an article: “The Hardships of Worship.” It dealt with the meetinghouses for worship in Connecticut two centuries ago. The typical clapboard meetinghouse of that era was not only “slenderly built… admitting freely the blasts of the seasons,” as a popular author Samuel Goodrich recalled, “but was unheated.” The article tells us, “There was no fireplace, no stove, no significant heat source of any kind. Half-frozen men, women, and children hunched into themselves to conserve precious body…

There can be no doubt that “Jesus Loves Me” is one of the most well-known and loved songs on earth. While we usually think of it as a children’s song, the message is universal. To be honest, it is one of my favorites. Quite often I lead it at youth rallies with teens, and we sing it somewhat often in our worship here at 9th Avenue. [And, yes, it made the Top 99.] Anna and Susan Warner co-wrote several books, trying to supplement their family income in the 1830s and 1840s. One of their most successful joint projects was a novel titled Say and Seal in which a little boy…

The Lads to Leaders program was created in 1969 by Jack Zorn in Warner Robbins, Georgia. Now operating out of Pelham, Alabama, the program has grown to include over 15,000 participants in scores of congregations. Lads to Leaders has grown to the point that four conventions are needed for the events and awards. Those conventions will be held in 2006 in Atlanta, Orlando, Indianapolis and the largest convention–Nashville. The program stresses the need for our children of today to become the leaders of tomorrow, which is a lofty and worthwhile goal, but there are many who claim that the Lads to Leaders program is not the method by which this…