Keith Giles - This former pastor left the pulpit to follow Jesus and started a church where 100% of the offering goes to the poor.

Jesus Is Lord (But Not King)

February 15, 2019 By Keith Giles

The Gospel was once considered a threat to those who held political power. When Paul and the other apostles started preaching about Jesus there were often riots because they were “….all defying Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, one called Jesus.” [Acts 17:7] There was no doubt about it. This Gospel was dangerous. Jesus was a serious threat to status quo. City officials and the crowds were thrown into turmoil over this subversive man. [See Acts. 17:8] Those who accepted… Read more

Unbalanced: The Dangers of Unconditional Love

February 14, 2019 By Keith Giles

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Anytime we speak about the extravagant and unending love of God for people, we must always remind ourselves – and one another – just how sinful and undeserving we are of such amazing love. The danger, of course, is that we might fixate too much on God’s audacious love and not spend enough time meditating on our own worthlessness. Several authors are guilty of this. For example, people like Philip Yancey, and Brennan Manning tend to go on and… Read more

Jesus: The Goat Shepherd

February 12, 2019 By Keith Giles

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I’m currently reading a book about the early Christian church and came across this amazing section about the Christian Catacombs: “It is well known that from the end of the First to the end of the Fourth Century, the early Christians buried their dead…in subterranean galleries excavated in the soft rock that underlies Rome. These ancient cemeteries were first uncovered in 1578…more than six, some estimates say eight million bodies are known to have been buried between AD 72 and… Read more

Is Christ Really In All Of Us?

February 8, 2019 By Keith Giles

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“If something goes wrong, I’m the first to admit it. The first to admit it, and the last one to know.” – Paul Simon, “Something So Right” Ok, I need to confess something to everyone: I might be wrong. You see, I’ve been saying for a long time now that, while we are all in Christ, not everyone has Christ in them. That was my firm and honest conviction. Until last night. That’s when my friend Chuck McKnight challenged my… Read more

Barna Poll: Millennial Christians Have More Non-Christian Friends

February 6, 2019 By Keith Giles

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Barna Research released new survey results this week that they – and many other Evangelical Christians – are casting in a negative light. However, they’re emphasizing one set of results over against another set which is much more positive. The report, entitled “Almost Half of Practicing Christian Millennials Say Evangelism Is Wrong”, leads off with the shocking news that Millennial Christians are largely uninterested in sharing their faith with their non-believing friends. [More on this in just a moment]…. Read more

How Agreement Divides Us

February 6, 2019 By Keith Giles

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Ok, I know this seems counter intuitive, but stay with me here. Whenever we form groups or define ourselves by what we believe, or what doctrines we agree about, we’re actually defining everyone who doesn’t agree with us as “them” or marking them as outsiders. I’ve seen this happen too many times. Especially in house church circles. [Not that this doesn’t also happen in every other form of church that’s out there, but my concern is mostly with those who… Read more

A Better Way To End Abortion In America

January 31, 2019 By Keith Giles

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Christians in America are stuck on a problem they can’t seem to solve. It’s a problem that unites nearly all of us together. In fact, other than Jesus himself, no other topic or issue so completely unites Christians than this. I’m talking about abortion, of course. But we’ve been stuck on how to solve this problem since 1973. Seriously. Has anyone ever told you the definition of insanity? It’s doing the same thing over and over again but expecting… Read more

Let’s Imagine Christianity Without Politics

January 30, 2019 By Keith Giles

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A few days ago I received an email from a friend of mine. He was sharing with me his frustration over the apparent blindness that many Christians seem to have when it comes to following Jesus. His experience was that every time he attempted to talk about doing what Jesus commanded us to do – like loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, caring for the poor, etc. – the responses he kept receiving were comments like, “But the… Read more

The Shiny Red Button (How Republicans Use Abortion To Manipulate Christians)

January 28, 2019 By Keith Giles

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*NOTE: I share this guest post from my friend Eric Johnson as a former Republican who has since abandoned all faith in politics and politicians. Both Democrats and Republicans use these same tactics to manipulate their base. This is not an attack on Republicans. It’s a wake up call for American Christians to abandon politics and pledge allegiance to the Lamb. * Let’s look at the role of Republicans in the History of abortion, shall we? Planned Parenthood started… Read more

Learning From The Wrong People

January 25, 2019 By Keith Giles

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Professor Lee Ross has done a lot of work in conflict resolution, promoting dialog between various groups in places like Northern Ireland and in the Middle East where he worked with both Palestinians and Israelis. Here’s what he noticed about those who stand on either side of an argument: “People on both sides are always interested in meeting with those from the other side,” he says. “But why do they want to meet? Because they want to explain to… Read more