Our culture is full of ideas of what the Bible says about God and our life with him. Watch television for a couple of hours in any given week and you're bound to come across a handful of similar sayings. The thing about phrases like these is that they sound so true, and, in many cases, so appealing.
The problem is they are wrong. And not just, "Oh, well, you get the general idea," kind of wrong. They are completely, insidiously, diametrically opposed to the heart and character of God.
There are curious things that occur each year in Alaska when the sun begins to warm the Arctic earth again and the snow that carpets the ground returns to its watery depths. Oh, I suppose it isn’t entirely unique to Alaska, but we all like to live within our own little worldview to some extent, now don’t we?
There are two HUGE weekends in the life of a church like ours. I’m sure you know it already but, Christmas and Easter offer the chance to invite people who might not come to church with you any other weekend of the year, as well as being weekends where people often sense the need to join a local church for the celebration, and simply look online, or around the neighborhood for a place to go.
Missouri native Kempton Turner and his wife, Caryn, have dedicated their lives to helping restore hope in East St. Louis, an area known for gangs, drugs, and staggeringly high murder rates. Their church plant, City of Joy Fellowship, focuses its ministry on the tough inner city where Kempton endured his own struggles growing up, including never knowing his biological mother.
