Source: After 12 years as principal of Clintondale High School, Greg Green had a bad feeling: He knew his school was failing its students. Especially the at-risk ones. Only 63% of the kids at Clintondale went on to college, and 35% didn’t even make it though high school. It was rated as one of the worst schools in Michigan. He and his staff had tried everything they could with the school’s limited resources. Nothing worked. But he had an out-of-the-box... Read more
By Joe James, the Education minister at the SouthSide Church of Christ in Rogers Arkansas. Trusting the Table (4): Let Them Grow Together “Trusting the Table” is my name for the Third Way in a world that pulls us in two directions: conservative and progressive. In my previous posts, I have argued that conservatives root their hopes in returning to days gone by and that progressives root their hopes in a future of our own making. There has been some... Read more
John 3:16 is the Church’s most favorite Bible verse. In it one finds the heart of the Gospel of John, the heart of God for humans and the heart of Jesus for everyone. This most popular of Bible verses then is the heart of God in the heart of the Bible. To get us going, I will cite the expanded translation of Murray J. Harris (teacher, colleague, friend), from his new book John 3:16 : This rebirth from above is... Read more
Jonathan Merritt, at RNS, writes about TGC’s habit of blocking its critics, and I have no idea if I’m blocked or not. Blocking is needed in the blog world, but in 12+ years of blogging here at Jesus Creed I’ve had to block less than 15 people (I would estimate). Used with permission by Jonathan. Evidently, TGC’s quite aggressive on this front: In the world of Christian ministry, The Gospel Coalition (TGC) is a towering, thundering goliath. Cofounded by popular New York... Read more
Lately I’ve been listening to the book of Ezekiel on my commute. One morning last week the passages included Ezekiel 28 and the lament against the king of Tyre caught my attention (vv.11-19). The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: “‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in... Read more
To catch how radical his vision really was, we need to enter into a different worldview and a different mindset — we need to go back, and behind where we usually go, to the world of Paul to see what he was actually trying to accomplish. As James Thompson, in The Church according to Paul, puts it, it was unprecedented — there was no map for Paul to follow, no instructions came in the box, he was on his own —... Read more
From Cleveland Clinic: Throughout the ages, people have wondered and invented explanations – some reasonable and some quite far-fetched – as to why we yawn, hiccup and get goosebumps. Centuries ago, people claimed hiccups meant a growth spurt for children, that you should cover your mouth during a yawn to prevent your soul from leaving the body, and that goosebumps make your hair grow faster. Most people in the modern world don’t have those beliefs, yet the majority of them... Read more
By Jameelah Rheaves, one of our Northern students. At times a paper for a class comes across my desk that I say, “This has to be shared with a wider public, beginning with my blog.” Jameelah’s review of Vashti McKenzie’s book was such a paper — the paper was fresh, insightful, and eye-opening for all those who (like me) don’t know the African American woman-in-the-church well enough. Once in our class this winter on women, the church and ministry, I... Read more
By Michelle Van Loon patheos.com/blogs/pilgrimsroadtrip or michellevanloon.com I don’t know how to go to a church service anymore. I spent a lot of time during the 1990’s writing and occasionally producing skits for church services, as well as a few full-length plays. These bits of spiritual theater were once known as “chancel dramas”. With the advent of the seeker service, they became a way for service producers to highlight conflict, questions and spiritual awakening in story form. My writing eventually led to producing... Read more
By Craig Keener, professor at Asbury Theological Seminary, is author of twenty books including Paul, Women & Wives, The IVP Bible Background Commentary, and, most recently with his wife, Impossible Love: The True Story of an African Civil War, Miracles and Hope against all Odds. Sometimes Paul gets a bad rap. The slave narratives are replete with sentiments from former slaves who loved Jesus but hated Paul, because slaveholders regularly quoted Ephesians 6:5, “Slaves, obey your masters.” What the slaveholders didn’t bother... Read more
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