At the ACC after-school tutoring program a few weeks ago Pastor David casually mentioned to me that he and Sobeyda were going to be hosting a refugee family from El Salvador. My heart jumped with excitement...what an opportunity for ACC to show the love of God! I also was encouraged by their willingness to share their living space with strangers, knowing they give so much already as a Pastor and Counselor. The next day Carolina and her almost 11 year old son Onandy arrived....
One of the most common names for God in the Bible is Yahweh Sabaoth or Elohim Sabaoth. The name appears over 285 times in the Old Testament and is translated "Lord of hosts" or "God of armies." The title "Lord of hosts" communicates the idea that God commands a vast army of angelic beings who obey his orders to accomplish his purpose on earth. It is a name that emphasizes...
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Martin Luther King, Jr. is most often remembered for his leadership in the struggle against racial injustice, but it is sometimes forgotten that at the end of his life King had begun to focus his efforts on the problem of poverty. The Poor People's Campaign, organized in 1968 by MLK and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, was an attempt to draw attention to the n...
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I was raised in the Free Methodist Church. In that tradition, congregations have historically gathered on New Year's Eve for a covenant renewal service. They follow a liturgy designed by John Wesley that leads the church through remembrance of God's grace, confession of sin, and consecration to God's purposes. There is one prayer in that service that really grabs my atten...
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For many of us New Year's Day is a time of reflection on the past and anticipation of the future. While we review the last year, we contemplate the year to come. If you are involved in that kind of thinking this New Year, I want to encourage you to be open to the idea that God may have plans for you in 2023 that you cannot yet envision. Be open to the idea that God may do...
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In Luke 2:8-15 we read of the first song ever sung in response to the birth of Jesus. It is indeed the first noel, the first Christmas carol. There are two things that I find amazing about the first noel: who sang the song and to whom they sang it. 1) Who sang the song? The first noel was sung by a choir of angels. They sang, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on ...
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"All those the Father gives mewill come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away." -- Jesus of Nazareth (John 6:37) There was once a teenager who was kicked out of his church youth group for being a bad influence on the other kids. There was once a young intellectual whose mother wept in prayer after he abandoned his Christian upbringing for a life of...
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In his humorous novel Skipping Christmas, John Grisham tells the story of Luther and Nora Krank, a middle-aged couple who are sick and tired of all the expense and bother involved in preparing for the holiday season. They calculate how much they normally spend on Christmas decorations, gifts, and food and realize that if they skip Christmas, they can afford to take a 10-da...
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One of the ways that Christians engage in prayer is through the act of intercession making requests of God on behalf of others. Since Christians, by grace, have been brought into relationship with God, it is both our privilege and our responsibility to plead the cause of others before the Lord. 1 Timothy 2:1 lists our involvement in this kind of prayer as being of first i...
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One of the most worn-out, underlined, check-marked, re-read books in my library is Holiness Its Nature, Hindrances, Difficulties and Roots by J.C. Ryle. It is clearly among my favorites. J.C. Ryle (born 1816) was the Anglican bishop of Liverpool in the late 1800's. He is remembered for his numerous books on the Christian life and for his commentaries on the four gospels....
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Because more than 5 billion copies of Scripture have been distributed, the Bible is often referred to as the best-selling book of all time. But, technically speaking, the Bible is not a book. It is a collection of 66 books compiled into one volume. These books were composed between approximately the 8th century BCE and the 1st century CE, written in three different languag...
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