Is it a church if that group of people does not celebrate baptism and the Lord’s Supper? What do you think? James Thompson, in his excellent and dense sketch of the church in Paul’s letters (The Church according to Paul), offers this summary of “the church made visible” in baptism and the Lord’s Supper (or eucharist). I break it into points to facilitate discussion: The paucity of references to baptism and the Lord’s Supper does not suggest however, that these... Read more

By Allan Bevere There’s lots of bad stuff going on in the world today. A natural worrywart would have a feast wigging out over what is happening in the world and right here in the good ole’ U.S. of A. How many times I hear people speaking of the good old days, of simpler times when life wasn’t so complicated, when it was safe to let children run free in public and when everyone supposedly went to church every Sunday.... Read more

Instead of coating with Christian make-up Donald Trump’s obvious lack of Christian convictions and character as Wayne Grudem did — in an article with the title that uses words that Trump is a “morally good choice” — he should have reduced his endorsement to the following sentences: Evangelicals need to align themselves with Republicans. (That is, Grudem is saying “I believe the Republican party is closest to Christian convictions.”) Grudem has a book called Politics that leans Tea Party as I... Read more

By Michelle Van Loon, who blogs at patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip and who tweets at michellevanloon.com Some in shriveling churches have prayed a form of Ezekiel 37:1-14 for their congregations. The prophet Ezekiel was given a vision of dry bones, and as he spoke in God’s name over them, God supernaturally reassembled them into a vibrant living body. God told Ezekiel that the vision was about the return from exile of the revived Chosen People to the land he’d given them. The appropriation of these... Read more

The issue is that the open theist, who maximizes freedom on the part of God and humans and creation and who believes in miracles, implicates God in the choice to act sometimes for redemption and goodness and at other times not to act. Thus, God has a choice when to act and, if so, God chooses sometimes to act and at other times not to act. But in not acting when God could bring about the good if God acted,... Read more

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. BCP Read more

By Angela Hurst: Angela Hurst is currently the senior teaching pastor at Cross City Church in Richmond, Kentucky. She has served in many different ministerial capacities, has been military officer for twenty-five years and is an active member of the Reserves.  She and her husband have been married for twenty-four years and have five children. I remember how embarrassed I was the day I walked into work with a black eye. I dreaded the questions, knowing I would have to... Read more

Well, the more appropriate term is that I “picked” one salmon from the Fields’ fishing nets on the shore of Harvester Island. This pic is not the fish I picked, but the one I picked is like unto it! (Leslie and Caleb picked two tubs full of salmon one evening.)   Read more

By Debbie Fulthorp: Dr. Debbie Fulthorp has been an ordained minister of the Assemblies of God for over fourteen years. Debbie has ministered in over twenty-seven countries. She received her DMin from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary. She is wife to Brian, mom to Mercy and Samuel, ages nine and six. I overheard an amazing conversation on my way back from lunch at a conference I recently attended. A university student casually mentioned the history of strong women leaders in the... Read more

A special review for this Saturday by Annabel Robinson. Seed Falling on Good Soil: Rooting Our Lives in the Parables of Jesus, by Gordon King (from Wipf and Stock) Here is a book that will challenge you to the core. When I picked it up I thought I was reading an exegesis of the parables of Luke. It is indeed that. But what I had in my hands was the outpouring of a soul as he heard the words of... Read more