Married five years, my wife Taylor and I were struggling with infertility and were checking into our medical and adoption options. So we created a family profile and turned it in to Bethany Christian Services. Within a few weeks, we received a call from a birth mother who had chosen us to be her baby’s family...

Is it wrong to have possessions? Is it wrong to enjoy material things? In a culture that has been seduced by the next upgrade and shiny object syndrome these questions produce quite an array of responses. I often hear Christians respond that all our money should not be going to frivolous things like pizza, clothing, and cable. We need to give all of our money towards missions, the poor, and the kingdom of God. Buying a toy for your child is seen as worldly...

You’re familiar with photobombing – when someone unexpectedly appears in a picture as it is being taken. Is faithbombing next? In an American society where religion is increasingly being removed from the public square, one recent high-school graduate protested his district’s move toward banning prayer from school events by ripping up his approved graduation speech and launching into a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer...

Iowa's governor recently signed into law an education bill that alters how homeschooling is monitored in the state. Under the former system, called Competent Private Instruction, parents who wish to homeschool their children had to choose one of several ways the child will be evaluated...

In his book The Next Christians: How a New Generation Is Restoring the Faith, Gabe Lyons argues that in learning and retelling the Gospel story of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration/consummation, Millennials eagerly embrace the elements of creation and restoration, elements they feel American Christianity has too often ignored. Sound familiar? That's the simple framework taught in any introduction to Reformed theology, and ...

Here is the problem: We all have sat through many sermons that were not so good (some of which I am responsible for). Sermons that created an awkwardness that you could cut with a knife. It may have been caused by the monotone delivery of the preacher. Maybe by the over spiritualized jargon that confused rather than edified. Or simply, the sermon was devoid of Scripture, and it sounded more like an Oprah interview, opinion piece, or a high school pep rally...

The UTR Critics Panel is a great cross-section of the music business, and these are some bright minds that think about all aspects of both music and ministry.  We have talked to them in the past about the changes they would love to see take place in the CCM Industry.  Now, we turn our attention to consumers.  Here is the question that we posed to our critics: What are the changes you would like to see in music fans in the near future?...

Our usual reaction to everyday corruption - bribes, graft, payoffs, fixers, grease - is "so what?" For the pragmatic, everyday corruption is a cost of doing business, like the (possibly apocryphal) story of the New York contractor whose superintendent shows up for work with a roll of Benjamins to make the day go more smoothly. For the people of Savar, Bangladesh, however, the consequences of corruption are decidedly non-trivial.

As a very young youth pastor, I am going through my fair share of ups and downs. But at the same time, I have been able to experience these young souls who are starting to grow in their faith. Seeing these young souls become more in love with Jesus Christ is a tremendous blessing as a youth pastor. At the same time, I have been learning how intricate ministry can be...

We've read the stats, and alarm bells are going off - young adults are fleeing the church! Well, the word fleeing may be a little harsh, but the truth is young adults are leaving the church at a frightening rate. I recently sat in a room with a few hundred people and listened to a report on this topic. The stat that stuck in my mind? Only one out of three young adults is still attending a church...

Your people make a difference. Pastors, staff, volunteers and your entire congregation represent your church in the community. The words they say and the way they act communicate something about who you are as an organization. When others interact with them, they are forming an opinion about your church based on those people, even if they’ve never visited your building, or seen your brochure or website...

NBA player Jason Collins made headlines this week with his announcement that he is gay. Collins is the first player in the four major American sports leagues to do so. During an ensuing discussion of Collins on ESPN's Outside the Lines, analyst Chris Broussard stated that as a Christian, he believes that practicing a homosexual lifestyle is a sin. LZ Granderson, a fellow ESPN contributor who self-identifies as Christian and gay, responded on the program, resulting in a discussion...

Motion Church is trying to change the statistics in Tampa Bay, Florida, the second least-religious city in the U.S. Only 35 percent of Tampa Bay’s population attends church regularly, according to the 2010 U.S. Religion Census. “People come here for fun in the sun, and are oftentimes running from something in their past,” says Motion Church pastor Aaron Lewis...

Last week, I spent time in southern California at the CRC’s Prayer Summit. More times than I can count on my hand, the person I was talking to did something unexpected: after talking about issues and contemplating with deep, heartfelt honesty what was going on in their church to contribute to the issue, they would suddenly brighten up and say, with equal parts trust and resignation, “I guess we just have to pray.”...

When I was little, I had a strange obsession with the environment. I collected animal stickers, watched endless documentaries on the Discovery Channel and stayed up late at night worrying about the rain forest. It was a strange concern, one that made my parents and schoolteachers call me "mature for my years." But my concern, as I see it now, was the development of guilt, the anxiety that I continue to carry: How could I learn about oil spills and endangered species at school and not do anything? How could I...

In California, area church multiplication leaders are working together to create a system for identifying, assessing, training, and coaching successful church planters. Leaders gathered in March to explore the Church Leadership Assessment. This tool provides a thorough view of a potential church planter based on 34 “essential competencies” that are vital for church planters. It uses input from the potential planter’s colleagues, superiors, and people who have been discipled by the prospective planter.

Walk up to the average person on the street and ask, “How are you?” The common response will be either a quick “fine” or “I am SO busy.” Now, we know that there may be many mores responses, but for the sake of argument the “I am busy” mantra is very common. The air we breathe in America is built on busyness. A busyness that never slows down enough to ask the question: “Is my busyness self induced or from outside forces?” America is a culture where the fast, productive, and efficient win the race. Busy is good… naps are bad...

Secular college campuses are a huge, widely untapped mission field. Studies show that although 80 percent of Christian teens plan to keep up their faith in college, in reality 40 to 50 percent of these same students end up leaving their faith by the time they graduate. There is a great need for campus ministries that reach Christian students as well as students who have had little or no exposure to Christianity. So how do these campus ministries draw in both students who are familiar with faith and those who...

Did you know that you are a theologian? Whenever you think or hear or read or say anything about God, you are doing theology. Theological study is under attack and some of the attacks come from those who attended seminary. Too many pastors have concluded that seminary was a “spiritual desert” for them and continue to critique the seminary of today because of their past experience. I believe that such a critique needs to be re-examined. Calvin Seminary and other seminaries have been changing to address the concerns raised and are now focusing upon whole person formation for ministry...

We’ve now reached the conclusion of the landmark History series The Bible. A record 10 million viewers plus have tuned in each week to this sweeping portrayal of the narrative of Scripture. The Bible has even surpassed American Idol - a Biblical irony, if you think about it. It’s always a risky prospect to attempt to portray a familiar story. The portrayals never quite seem to come out right...

The gospel hip-hop scene from an outside perspective: What you’re looking at is a camaraderie of brothers who love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. They are doing what they love to do, and want to represent the Lord in their lips and their lives and their words and works - through their lyrics, on the road, with their wives, and in their churches...

There’s been a lot of buzz about History’s new series The Bible, especially after the first episode earned huge ratings. As The Bible has begun to unfold, I’ve found myself intrigued by some credible versions of ancient stories. I’ve always wondered just how the conquest of Jericho really played out, and the frantic pursuits through the narrow alleys of that little town, as envisioned here, gave me greater respect for the courage of those spies. What’s more, the actors actually seemed grimy and sweaty in the desert, their hair looking like it hadn’t seen shampoo in a lifetime.

All cultures throughout history have been viewed by the proceeding cultures through the use of cultural artifacts – cookware, weaponry, clothing, jewelry, art, etc. Perhaps one of the most telling artifacts from 20th and 21st century culture are our TV shows, reflecting both what we desire our world to be and what we already know our culture to be. While this could be traced all the way back to the days of black and white, let me just highlight the most popular TV shows of the past 20 years and talk a little about what they might mean for North American culture...

We are excited to partner with 12-time Dove Award-winning artist Cindy Morgan and critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Andrew Greer on the "Hymns For Hunger Tour" presented by Food For The Hungry. This tour has some exciting goals:  (a) to give an audience a joyful, spiritual night full of folk-Americana remakes of hymns, spirituals, and some originals, (b) to partner with each host venue to benefit a local organization helping the needy in that community, and (c) to draw awareness to both the national and global needs as it relates to hunger...