Christian Living

The night before He was crucified, Jesus spent an extended period teaching His disciples. Apparently He began teaching His disciples while they were in the upper room, then continued to teach them as they left the room and walked toward Gethsemane. Part of what He taught them centers upon the image of the vine and branches, reported in John 15:1-8. Specifically, in the context of this image, Jesus uttered the command to “abide in me.”

Andrew Walls states that “one of the few things that are predictable about third-millennium Christianity is that it will be more culturally diverse than Christianity has ever been before” (Walls, p. 68). If Walls’ assessment is correct, then greater attention must be given to preparing cross-cultural workers for the complex challenges they face in effectively crossing cultural boundaries with the gospel.

At the end of the twentieth century, the academic world was hearing more and more about IDM—the Intelligent Design Movement. It was the proposition that the biological world could not have come into existence by mere undirected time and chance. Upon closer inspection, under the lenses of powerful microscopes hitherto unimaginable and irreducible, specified complexity came to light within the cells of living things.

Adam Blumer, Managing Editor

Confessions of a Classic Performer

I grew up on a farm without animals—domesticated animals, that is. Wild cats came and went like vagrants seeking shelter for a few months before setting off in search of something better. Those cats especially liked our classic circa 1900 red barn. As a boy, I remember sitting in the barn’s hayloft while dust motes danced in shafts of sunlight at my feet.

^{Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from Warren Vanhetloo’s newsletter “Cogitation.”}

Yesterday, the American people elected Barak Obama to be the forty-fourth president of the United States of America. Because the Bible says that leaders are “ordained of God” (Rom. 13:1), I do not believe there was any emergency meeting in heaven due to this turn of events. So when I heard the news of Obama’s victory, I offered prayers for him in obedience to God’s command (1 Tim. 2:1-4).

by Pastor Dan Miller

^{Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from Dan Miller’s book Spiritual Reflections}

Susan Raber, Accounts Manager & Ladies’ Forum Director

I have been thinking about how to include my story of how I came to know Jesus Christ as my personal Savior in this blog since I began writing it back in October 2007. I wasn’t sure if I could do a good job of it without writing a novel, but I am going to attempt to cover the important elements that I believe brought me to the place I needed to be for God to shine the light of truth on my heart and reveal to me how much I needed Him.

^{Editor’s Note: This article was reprinted with permission from Warren Vanhetloo’s newsletter “Cogitation.”}