We’ve all had it happen to us.  An irate email.  A nasty comment on our blog.  A Facebook message from someone who’s ticked.  It seems that the internet makes people much more bold when it comes to conflict… people say in emails and online things they wouldn’t ever have the guts to say to your face.  Here’s a helpful article by Toni Birdsong on how to handle online conflict.  I think it could really help the next time you raise the ire of someone. 10 ways to handle an online conflict: Evaluate objectively. Go back over the dialogue that lead up to the conflict and...

According to the Christian Post, the latest version of the popular NIV Bible translation has had its verses on homosexuality reworded, making them clearer in denouncing the practice, according to Dr. Douglas J. Moo for Wheaton Collage, a theologian who helped with the translation says. “The 1984 NIV rendering … did not make clear whether homosexual activity per se was being condemned or whether only certain kinds of ‘offensive’ homosexual activity was being condemned.,” said Moo. “The updated NIV makes clear that the Greek words here indicate any kind of homosexual activity. The...

Russell Moore is under criticism this past week for a piece he wrote entitled “The Next Billy Graham Might Be Drunk Right Now”. Here’s what Russell wrote: The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal. The next Charles Wesley might be a misogynist, profanity-spewing hip-hop artist right now. The next Billy Graham might be passed out drunk in a fraternity house right now. The next Charles Spurgeon might be making posters for a Gay Pride March right now. The next Mother Teresa might be managing an abortion clinic right now. But the...

Dane Gressett writes:  I believe there is benefit in pausing at the beginning of every year to reflect upon the direction our lives, marriages, jobs, and ministries are taking. Time is limited and the demands upon our schedules can often be vast. There are two common Greek words that are often translated as “time” in our English Bibles.  One is chronos and the other kairos. They have very different meanings.  And you might not pick up on this in your English translation. In our fast-paced world we are very familiar withchronos. This relates to the actual hours and minutes that fly by us...

Chuck Colson has penned a piece about ‘celebrity pastors’.  Here’s part of his article: The cult of celebrity has seeped into our sanctuaries. Like the culture around us, churches too often reward the sizzle and not the steak. Too many people in the pews would rather have a celebrity in the pulpit instead of a good shepherd of souls, a good servant leader. Not surprisingly, some pastors, certainly not the majority, become addicted to all the adulation and then try to live up to the idol we have made of them. Or worse, all the celebrity worship can make pastors feel they are above...