barnabasinitiatives

In only 75 years, Mere Christianity  by C. S. Lewis has become a classic explanation and defense of the Christian faith. Lewis argues for the existence of God. He explains core doctrinal tenets of the Christian faith. He asserts the essentials of Christian morality. His stated aim is to “explain and defend the belief that has been common to nearly all Christians at all times.” Lewis organizes his consideration of Christian behavior around the classic virtues of the faith. Amo

In October, at the age of 108, my Aunt Laura Hoffman peacefully passed into the presence of Jesus. A year earlier she asked me to speak at her memorial service, telling me what she wanted me to say on her behalf as a parting word: Be careful not to judge people with disabilities, including ones that are not easy to see or identify. My early memories of my Aunt Laura include her beautiful soprano voice when she sang in church, our visits to her home to play with cousins, her r

While Connie was growing up, concentrating on music, her brothers were playing baseball and basketball. In high school and college I played soccer. Neither of us paid much attention to football until we moved to Oklahoma. There we quickly learned that football was a prime topic in Oklahoma conversations. To relate, we began to follow OU and OSU football teams. By the time we moved to Pennsylvania, we enjoyed watching football. As a substitute for Oklahoma teams, we ended up

According to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2020, 46% of adults in the United States over the age of 18 are single, nearly 132 million   adults. If we factor out the number of these who are cohabiting, nearly a third of adults in the U.S. are single and un-partnered. When we consider the church as a sub-set of our national population, a recent study by the Barna Group found that 23% of all active church attenders are single, either never married, divorced, or widowed. Even younge

In the week before his death, Jesus said to his disciples: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to...

The difficult departure of a lead pastor resulted in unhealed wounds among the pastors, staff, members, and attenders of a strong church...

After a church leader with long tenure, it is often helpful for someone to serve in-between the outgoing and incoming leader; otherwise,...