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....
Years ago, in a social psychology class in college, our professor lectured us on the power of societal norms. Performing a public act that might elicit scorn or ridicule invariably causes most people to feel anxiety. We have a natural aversion to looking weird. Our assignment that day was to do something to break a social norm and write a paper detailing the physiological...
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We Christians sometimes place unnecessary limits on the ways we worship God. It is understandable that, by temperament or tradition, we would each prefer certain styles of worship. Sadly, however, we sometimes cut ourselves off from the wide variety of ways God can be praised. Psalm 150, the final song in the psalter, helps to broaden our understanding of worship. The wor...
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Every year, starting on October 1, a group of ACCers sets off on the journey of reading through the entire Bible over the next twelve months. We follow a daily reading plan that generally includes one passage from the Old Testament and one passage from the New Testament, working through individual books of the Bible from start to finish. Some participants choose to read on...
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In 2002, a group of worshipers gathered in the basement of the Astoria Center of Israel Synagogue for the first Sunday service of Astoria Community Church. Since that day, the congregation of ACC can look back on 20 years of God's faithfulness and blessing on our church. You are invited to join us on Saturday, October 29 at 6:00pm as we celebrate the 20th anniversary of A...
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Most Christians have friends and family members who have not yet come to trust Christ as their Savior. One of the most important things we can do for our unsaved loved ones is to pray for them. Here are seven ways to pray for those you love who do not yet know the Lord. 1) Pray for the Holy Spirit to show them their need for Jesus. In John 16, Jesus promised that after ...
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Articles on how to read Scripture often focus on techniques daily reading plans, interpretive methods, systems of study, etc. These can all be tremendously helpful, but what I want to write about here are not techniques that make Bible-reading effective. I want to explore attitudes that make Bible-reading fruitful. What should be the attitude of our hearts when we approa...
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