In the last post I noted that Christian students are often torn between their beliefs from home and their friends at school. Because their home (Christian) beliefs sometimes lack depth and support, they accommodate themselves to secular norms at school and drift away from the Bible. This I have witnessed too many times to count. To my thinking, the problem stems from a lack...

In a recent intense week of ministry, I spoke on the topic of LGBT+ eight times to two different groups of high school students and a group of parents. Three observations: The pull from secular culture on students to affirm gay and lesbian sexual relationships and "gay marriage" is titanic. Christian students frequently find themselves in the dreadful position of having to decide between...

In Part 1 I related how my heart was touched by the holy sites of Israel. I'm definitely not above the innocent wonderment of, say, the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem or the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem. I was also reminded while in Israel of the "scandal of particularity." This phrase can be found in Christian academic and journalistic sources such as Jonathan...

Visiting Israel for the first time, I wondered what to expect. Would it be over-commercialized? Would the holy sites be little more than tourist traps? More lamentably, would I be too old and cynical to appreciate the simplicity of, say, the Garden of Gethsemane or the Jordan River? As it turned out, these fears were unfounded. I loved Israel. I was touched deeply by...

Part 1 is here. How do we communicate the gospel to kids? I'm no expert. But I am an experimenter. Here's the latest: I'm working with two of my grandsons, age 11 and 9. I love them both! They're growing up in a strong Christian home. My main thesis is that they (and many kids) need a why for the faith. Simply a "what"...