Blog

From July 9-13, 2018, about 35 ACC volunteers descended on Van Alst playground, turning it into a space camp for our second annual Vacation Bible Club. We interacted with 30-40 kids at the playground, training them to be "astronauts" as we learned the story of God's creation through the theme of space. Through a repertoire of music, skits, Bible stories, games, crafts,...

It's no secret that our nation is enduring a painful season of cultural division. Differences of opinion on political and social issues are placing a tremendous strain on relationships and communities. This is exacerbated by the constant harping of 24-hour news channels and the ease with which any of us can publish our views on social media before we've listened well to ...

ACC will be starting a new Community Group season in September. Community Groups are gatherings of 5-12 people who meet regularly in homes for prayer, Bible study, and Christian friendship. We are looking for church members who would be interested in leading a group and for others who would be willing to open their home to host a group. (Sometimes people will both host ...

My wife tells me that I am not a good listener. (At least, that's what I think she said.) I am beginning to realize she may be right. A book that was very helpful to me in understanding my problem is The Listening Life by Adam S. McHugh. McHugh makes the case that listening is one of the most important things a follower of Christ can do. He writes, "Throughout the Bibl...

At the Vacation Bible Club this summer, I was placed in charge of the Scripture memorization station. Children were challenged to memorize verses from the Bible and rewarded with Jolly Rancher candies if they did so. In case no one is offering you a Jolly Rancher, I want to suggest a few reasons why you might consider Scripture memorization as an on-going discipline to ...

In his book, Blessed are the Misfits, Brant Hansen writes about his life growing up in a church where it was constantly stressed that every Christian's job was to evangelize to get out into the world to spread the gospel and how distressing this assignment was for him as an introvert. In other churches, what is stressed is that every Christian's job is to engage in pol...

Da Vinci's famous painting, Mona Lisa, has an estimated value of $620 million. You can buy a copy of it on Amazon for $25.99. What's the difference? One is real; the other is fake. One is genuine; the other just a cheap imitation. That's the way it is with many things in life. Their value depends entirely on their authenticity. Zirconium diamonds, Gucci knock-offs, co...

Every year the churches of our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), send representatives to a nationwide General Assembly (GA). Last week, Jeffrey Choi and I travelled to Atlanta, where this year's meeting was held, to participate in the Assembly. A lot of important things happen at GA: decisions are made regarding the future of the church; reports ar...

About a month ago, I received an email from a Deacon from a small PCA church in the inner-city of New Orleans asking for financial help for one of their members who had a recent house fire. He shared that their mercy fund had been depleted (from multiple requests that come in weekly) and this need was too much for them to shoulder alone. The couple lives on a meager income...

Cigna health insurance company recently conducted a survey of over 20,000 people in the U.S. age 18 or older. They discovered what we all already knew a lot of people are lonely. The survey revealed that loneliness in our society has become epidemic. According to the research: Almost halfof Americans say they sometimes or always feel alone (46 percent) or excluded (...