Features

Regardless of how people themselves may feel about their housing situation, the research has been deemed unequivocal: people aging alone experience worse physical and mental health outcomes and shorter life spans.

It’s the young minister who is more likely to try to brave it out alone. It’s the young pastor who is more prone to end up a victim instead of a victor.

Believing the gospel comes with an obligation to the gospel.

The story of Christmas is perfect for shedding light on the hope we can find in our darkness. Jesus came into a world filled with pain, a world where people searched for hope and longed for the Messiah to come but were constantly disappointed.

We are prone to seek greatness for our own sake rather than to glorify God in it. If we try to pretend like all of our motives are pure, then we’ll never be able to address the inconsistencies in us.

A recent Small Town Summits event at Gordon Conwell indicates that small town ministry is alive and well.

Those who have wayward children who likely won’t be home for Christmas. Those parents grieve, too, sometimes in unique ways. They cling to hope that this might be the Christmas for return and reunion, then weep when it doesn’t happen.

My wife’s style was more relational. She built relationships over time and introduced Jesus to people more slowly. When she went to the shopping mall, she didn’t evangelize. She shopped. But I also noticed that she had engaged many of her co-workers in Gospel conversations over time.