What Pastors Like about their Jobs

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:55 pm By Scot McKnight

From Thom Rainer: So I took to the Twitterverse again with my poll question asking pastors what they like most about their work. Here are their top ten responses. Seeing lives transformed. Preaching. Frankly, I expected this response to be number one, but it was a distant second. Preaching is very important to these pastors, but transformed lives are the most important. Of course, some of them noted that preaching transforms lives. Personal evangelism. Though distant to number one, sharing the... Read more

Women and Science Careers

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:52 pm By Scot McKnight

From NPR: You don’t need to be a social scientist to know there is a gender diversity problem in technology. The tech industry in Silicon Valley and across the nation is overwhelmingly male-dominated…. A new study by University of Texas sociologist Catherine Riegle-Crumb in the journal Social Science Quarterly offers an interesting new perspective on this divide. Along with co-author Chelsea Moore, Riegle-Crumb decided to dive into the gender divide in high school physics courses. (Even as the gender divide in some areas of science has diminished, a... Read more

Pastors and Weddings

Last updated on: August 3, 2013 at 12:12 pm By Scot McKnight

From John Frye “I am not here to perform your wedding; I’m here to help you establish a Christian home.” This is what I tell young (or older) couples who anticipate marriage. I love weddings. They are a celebrative aspect of pastoral ministry. Imagine after all the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents and then Jesus saying to that sinner, “Now, here’s the cross. Get use to carrying it daily.” No, I am not saying marriage is a... Read more

A Guide for Miracles

Last updated on: August 14, 2013 at 6:26 pm By Scot McKnight

Miracles are weird, they disrupt our world, they make us vulnerable, they renew … and their presence in the history of a church that believes in God, in a God who in the Bible (at least) displayed powers in such a way that everyone thought they were miracles, and we believe in a Lord Jesus who seemed to do a miracle a day. Just read Mark 1. Yet, apart from the charismatic types, who do claim more miracles than many... Read more

How to Make Your Clothes Last Longer

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:41 pm By Scot McKnight

From Juliette Donatelli: Clothes that last for a good long time mean less wear and tear on the environment and serious budget savings. Taking care of good-quality clothes from responsible manufacturers means that you will be able to get maximum value from them over time and use much less energy for washing and drying. Whether its a new dress you want to keep forever, or your vintage or special pieces, the laundry ideas below are key. When it comes to... Read more

Stories or Anecdotes

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:32 pm By Scot McKnight

A good point of discussion from Jonathan Fitzgerald: What are the distinguishing features of the story vs. the anecdote? Storytelling is a central element of the Christian faith. From the story that unfolds over the thousands of years recorded in the Old and New Testaments, to Jesus’ use of parables, to the common practice of sharing testimonies among believers, storytelling is crucial. And yet, in contemporary evangelicalism, storytelling is more often a means to an end than an end in... Read more

Meteors, Dinosaur Droppings, and More (RJS)

Last updated on: August 15, 2013 at 6:44 am By RJS

Joel at Naturalis Historia has a knack for organizing and describing scientific evidence in a clear and readable fashion. Perhaps this comes from years of experience teaching biology to college students. He posts sporadically, but all of the material is worth a careful read if you are interested in science and the evidence that convinces so many Christians in the sciences of the age of the earth and the basic reliability of evolutionary biology. He writes the kind of science-based... Read more

Life in the Age to Come

Last updated on: August 14, 2013 at 6:53 am By Scot McKnight

That’s what our Creed, the Nicene Creed, leads us to confess weekly (if we are in that sort of segment of the church). Notice what we confess: “We believe in … the life of the age to come.” We believe life has the final word, not death; we look death in the eye and through death into life, endless and boundless. The Age to Come has a supporting line in the Creed that says this: “… is coming again with... Read more

Women, Doubling Down

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:23 pm By Scot McKnight

From Sarah Green and Walter Frick: Wonks have zeroed in on a detail of last Friday’s lackluster jobs report and a recent report from the Urban Institute to discuss a notable data point: a small decline in the number of twentysomething women entering the workforce. Ezra Klein and Evan Soltas of the Washington Post write, “In particular, [labor force entry has] suffered among women — and it’s really suffered among young women — who are a lot less likely to enter the labor force than... Read more

Nine Reasons to Run from a Church

Last updated on: August 11, 2013 at 1:57 pm By Scot McKnight

From Roger Olson: So here are my suggestions for behaviors that should cause people to RUN from a congregation EVEN IF it is perfectly orthodox doctrinally and even though its reputation is evangelical: 1) Condoning (including covering up) sexual abuse or sexual immorality of leaders within itself. 2) Silencing honest and constructive dissent. 3) Treating leaders as above normal ethical standards, above questioning. 4) Implying that “true Christianity” belongs to it alone or churches in its network. 5) Using intense... Read more

What happened when the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant?