T is for Truth – FAITH Series
August 26, 2010You don’t have to be a cultural expert to know that we’re living in a post-modern era, where truth is relative and everyone’s beliefs hold equal merit. So the question for parents is how do we equip our children to be difference-makers in a world of shifting values? The answer is one word. Truth. Jesus said “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32). There is a freedom in knowing the truth. And by truth, we don’t mean a static set of beliefs, but truth as embodied in a Person. In John 14:6, Jesus…
Continue ReadingI is for Integrity – FAITH Series
August 25, 2010This is part three of a five part series of devos featured by Mark Elfstrand on The Morning Ride on WMBI 90.1 FM Chicago Henry Clay said, “Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so highly prized as that of character.” If there is one virtue we want to see embodied in the next generation, it is integrity. Why? Because integrity, like a rock, will endure in the good times and the bad. Today, as we see our world come apart at the seems, many Christians want to blame the media, the politicians, or Hollywood.…
Continue ReadingA is for Accountability – FAITH Series
August 24, 2010This is part two of a series of devos featured by Mark Elfstrand on The Morning Ride on WMBI, 90.1 Chicago. Believe it or not, children want boundaries. They want rules. They want structure. They even want discipline. Of course, they’ll raise their hand at dinner time and ask you for this. But deep within their hearts, they crave the security that comes from parents who care enough to tell them where the lines are. The natural human inclination is to bow to every whim of each child, to give them what they want. On the surface it seems cruel…
Continue ReadingF is for Faithfulness – FAITH Series
August 23, 2010This is part one of five devos featured on The Morning Ride with Mark Elfstrand. “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart.” For most Christian parents, this verse in Proverbs 22:6 is a foundation stone of their home. But it’s a verse that often brings guilt rather than inspiration. Guilt that stems, I believe, from an unbiblical interpretation. At first glance, it seems to offer an ironclad promise. Raise your children “the right way” and they will automatically “turn out.” But here’s the problem. It doesn’t always work.…
Continue ReadingAwesome Men’s Conference
August 23, 2010Hey guys, hurry up and register for this incredible men’s conference hosted by Gages Lake Bible Church. And don’t just do it because we’re going to enjoy Chicago’s very own, deep-dish Lou Malnati’s pizza. Do it because we’re going to hear from incredible speakers, like Mark Elfstrand, morning show host at WMBI 90.1 Chicago and author of Ten Passions of a Man’s Soul. Do it because we’ll hear from Pastor Kerry Bauman, senior pastor at Chain of Lakes Community Bible Church. Do it because we’ll hear from Steve Currington, founder and president of Reformer’s Unanimous, one of the largest faith-based…
Continue ReadingTony or Rex
August 21, 2010If you play sports, you just accept that there is a certain amount, well, actually an enormous level of testosterone. I spent a lot of time in the locker room, even in a Christian high school, and remember conversations I wouldn’t repeat at the dinner table. Guy talk. I was fortunate to have a Christian coach with godly character who consistently encouraged us adolescent boys to be men. That not only meant certain toughness on the field, playing through adversity and injury, and laying it all out there for the team. It also meant being a gentleman off the field.…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview – Colleen Coble
August 20, 2010We’re privileged to interview popular and bestselling author, Colleen Coble. Colleen writes romantic suspense and has won numerous awards across the publishing spectrum, including American Christian Fiction Writer’s Writer of the Year, Romance Writer’s of America, RITA award, the Holt Medallion, and many others. She has sold over 1 million books. 1) You have a rather dramatic beginning to your writing journey. Can you share that? The phone rang late that night with the news that the oldest of my three younger brother had been killed by lightning in a freak farm accident. In the coming months, as I emerged from…
Continue ReadingA Response to Rachel Held Evans
August 14, 2010So right before my wife and I left for Colorado Springs for a pastoral retreat, I read Rachel Held Evans post on the blog at onFaith. I read it with interest, because it seemed to “represent” all next generation evangelicals. I wrote a response post questioning why the prolife cause has been so out of favor with young evangelicals while causes like sex trafficking, etc are chic. Rachel, to her credit, wrote a thoughtful response that generated a lot of very smart and thoughtful comments. I have had time to think this over the last week and wanted to continue…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview – Tamela Hancock Murray
August 13, 2010Tamela Hancock Murray is a great friend and . . . she happens to be my literary agent a really good one at that. She works with Hartline Literary Agency. She is very professional, loves Christ passionately, and really knows the industry. Most of all, she really understands her clients and helps to further them in their calling. What’s makes Tamela a great agent is that she’s a writer as well. She’s written several novels and has a background in a wide variety of writing, publishing, and public policy endeavors. A bit more of her background: She has been a…
Continue ReadingThrowing the Prolife Baby Out with the Rhetorical Bathwater – A Response to Rachel Held Evans
August 9, 2010I read with interest the semi-biographical piece written by Rachel Held Evans posted on the Washington Post’s On Faith blog. Like Evans, I’ve grown up in the evangelical Christian subculture and have experienced its excesses. Like Evans, I’m a thirty-something Christian communicator who probably sees the world a bit different than previous generations. Like Evans, I’ve been disenchanted with the too-cozy relationship between church and state. Not necessarily because I think it hurts the state. But because I think it has hurt the church, as we’ve tacked on Republican talking points to our set of orthodox doctrines, essentially watering doing…
Continue ReadingA Response to Bruce Baker on the Ground Zero Mosque
August 6, 2010Since I posted my opinion on the Ground Zero mosque, I’ve had conversations with many well-reasoned Christians who have come down on both sides. And I read a very articulate editorial by STan Guthrie of Breakpoint. Stan’s point essentially is that resisting the building of the mosque at its exact location is within the preview of American religious liberty, because zoning commissions in municipalities everywhere make judgment calls every day. He said that prudence is what should mark these decisions. In this case, yes, technically they have a right to build a mosque there, but is it the most prudent thing, given the…
Continue ReadingDefending the Ground Zero Mosque
August 4, 2010Like most people, I was taken back by the proposed mosque that has been approved for construction just two blocks from ground zero. It seems to be an “in-your-face” statement to have such a visible sign of Islam so close to the place where radical adherents of that religion carried out their vengeance on the U.S. But what has me more worried is the reaction of Christians and conservative politicians, who want the government to step in and ban the mosque. This would be a clear violation of the 1st Amendment, a fundamental and unique element of our Republic, purchased…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview – Margaret McSweeney
July 30, 2010In 2005-2006, I had the privilege of volunteering to help a congressional candidate, Dave McSweeney, run for Congress here in Illinois’ 8th district. What emerged from that race was more than a campaign. I became great friends with both Dave and his wife, Margaret. And today I have the privilege of interviewing Margaret McSweeney. Margaret has a heart of compassion and a gift for connecting people. In fact, she was the one who encouraged me to send my first manuscript to her friend, Andrea Mullins, from New Hope Publishers. Margaret is an accomplished author and speaker. She has written A…
Continue ReadingChrist’s Peace
July 29, 2010James Boyce: The story has occasionally been told of a contest in which artists were to submit paintings and sculptures portraying their understanding of peace. Some showed beautiful sunsets, others pastoral scenery. But the prize went to an artist who had painted a bird in its nest, attached to a branch protruding from the edge of a thundering waterfall. This is the idea involved in Christ’s legacy. In times of outward peace anyone can be at peace, or at least many can. But it takes an exceptional peace, a supernatural peace, to prevail in the midst of great outward trouble…
Continue ReadingImmigration and Evangelism
July 26, 2010Perhaps there is no hotter topic than the subject of immigration. If you want to turn a really nice dinner party into an ugly brawl, just stand up and give your views on immigration. Yes, you will have ignited a verbal war. Judging the emails, Facebook entries, and Twitter chatter, Christians are talking a lot of immigration. But the question is, and should be, how should a Christian think biblically about this issue. Its no secret that the population of immigrants is swelling in the United States. And many immigrants are not here legally. This has many people rightfully upset,…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview – Sara Horn
July 23, 2010I can’t think of a more important and yet over-looked ministry field than to encourage and mentor the wives of American service men and women. Long deployments, the risk of the battlefield, and the constant moving from city to city. Most Americans are aware of the need to honor and care for our brave soldiers, but few think of the toll their service takes on the families they often have to leave behind. That’s why I’m glad my good friend, Sara Horn, has stopped by the blog today. Sara has a wonderful ministry to military wives, Wives of Faith. She…
Continue ReadingChristians and a Responsibility to Truth
July 21, 2010Two news stories, one in the evangelical world and one in the political world, remind us that while Christians have a responsibility toward truth and grace, we don’t always uphold that. Ergun Caner is a professor at Liberty University and was, until recently, Dean of the School of Religion. I didn’t get too deep into the weeds on this story, but apparently a few bloggers found discrepancies in his rather compelling conversion story. However, many prominent evangelicals, have stood up for Dr. Caner. What was telling from my point of view as a very detached observer is that Christian bloggers…
Continue ReadingIn Praise of Starbucks
July 21, 2010Last night I had a rare night to just relax. The kids were in bed early, Angela was out to run errands, and I had the TV remote to myself. So I flipped around and finally settled on a biopic on CNBC done by the Biography Channel. The story of Starbucks, in particular, its chairman, Howard Schultz. The documentary was very well done. I’m always fascinated by the stories of successful businesses. Whenever we’re waiting in a doctor’s office, I always gravitate toward the business magazines. I love to see how entrepreneurs push back against the norms and not only build a…
Continue ReadingDeveloping Decision-Makers
July 19, 2010“Will they make good choices?” This is the question that every parent asks, especially parents of teenagers. Its what keeps you up at night, fretting, hoping, and praying. In my work as a pastor, I often counsel young people on the wide array of choices that lie before them. And even though I’ve talked to scores of teens from a wide variety of backgrounds, I can usually categorize them into one of two groups: those who have been equipped to make good choices and those who have not. I’ve found that its not enough for parents to simply help them…
Continue ReadingFriday Five Interview – Chip MacGregor
July 16, 2010It is my privilege to interview one of the top literary agents in the country. Chip MacGregor is more than just a literary agent, he’s a consummate “book guy” enjoying a successful career in all phases of publishing, from writing, editing, collaborating, publishing, and representing. Chip has discovered, collaborated with, and coached some of the most well-known authors, including Kay Arthur, Dr. David Jeremiah, Joe Stowell, Andy Andrews, and many others. Chip’s authors have spent numerous weeks on The New York Times best-seller lists, perhaps his most famous was Let’s Roll, the moving memoir by Todd Beamer’s widow, Lisa. Chip has also…
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