Retractions
I suppose we all have a few memories that cause us to cringe, memories of things we did or things we said that leave shame flooding our minds and little trickles of sweat running down our foreheads. Embarrassing things. Awkward things. Shameful things. Sinful things. Most of us do our best to push these memories away, to do all we can to get them out of our minds. But what if they can actually provide valuable lessons for our own lives and those of other people?
Pat Nemmers once ponder
Christmas Games: Two Freebies for a Holly-Jolly Youth Event
How about some free Christmas games? It's the season for giving, after all. Use and adapt these youth group games with your teens this holiday season!
The post Christmas Games: Two Freebies for a Holly-Jolly Youth Event appeared first on ChurchLeaders.
Teaching About Sin: Do’s and Don’ts for Sunday School Teachers
Teaching about sin can be challenging for church workers and parents. But it's an important topic, and these insights can help.
The post Teaching About Sin: Do’s and Don’ts for Sunday School Teachers appeared first on ChurchLeaders.
What Has Been Most Helpful in Your Marriage?
I opened an all-day marriage seminar with this topic: confession of sin before the Lord. It came about because I decided to lead with the question, “What has been most helpful in my own marriage?” I would have preferred to answer “a soulful, extended hug,” or “laughter”—which was the prescription from a popular marriage seminar we attended years ago. Either would have been a nice way to ease into the day, but for me, the answer was, and is, confession. Confession—ordinary Lord’s-Prayer-confessio
How to Care for the Brokenhearted at Christmas
The more joys and sorrows I live through personally and see in those around me, the more convinced I am that Christmas — over any other season — tends to make life’s sweet things sweeter and hard things harder.
For some, this Christmas will bring a burst of excitement as we fill our homes with lights, carols, and generations of those we love. For others, each day will be a feat of endurance as we trudge through reminders of lack, or memories of loss. Given Jesus’s assurance that in this lif
How Can I Cast My Cares on God?
<div><p>Casting your cares onto God begins with believing that he really is the infinitely powerful, all-wise, always-good God he reveals himself to be.</p><p><a href="https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/how-can-i-cast-my-cares-on-god">Listen Now</a></p><img src="http://rss.desiringgod.org/link/10732/15833782.gif" height="1" width="1"></div>
AZERBAIJAN: Multiple fines for Muslims meeting for prayer in homes
<div>Multiple prosecutions and fines of Muslims - who in different parts of Azerbaijan met for Islamic worship in homes without state permission - have followed raids by police and State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations officials. The Muslims were each fined the equivalent of about two months' average wages for those in formal work. For people in rural areas, those without a formal job, or pensioners, such fines are a heavy financial burden.</div>
Leaked: Twitter targeted conservatives and critics of Biden with censorship, bans, blacklists
And there are links to the FBI and CIA, too! The only reason we are finding out about Big Tech’s targeting of conservatives (and election interference to help Democrats) is because Elon Musk is releasing Twitter secrets. But the same thing is happening in all Big Tech companies. Let’s take a look at what was dumped on Thursday night. Watch for mentions of the FBI in these stories.
First, this article from Daily Wire:
The second installment of the so-called “Twitter Files” was released Thursday e
The Top 10 Leadership Posts I Read The Week Of December 5th
<div>The Top 10 List The following are The Top 10 Leadership Posts I Read The Week Of December 5th: Reactivating The “Quiet Quitters” In Your Church by Gavin Adams The Recipe For Community by James Albright via LeadershipAndMain.org A Christmas Reminder: 8 Reasons Why People Aren’t Coming Back by Greg Atkinson How 5 Simple “To Do” […]</div>
Brilliant Books 2022: Plugged In’s Year-End Picks
There are many potentially negative ways that young people can misuse their time. (Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you, social media.). But generally, reading a book isn’t on that list. Studies have shown that a bit of focused reading can help kids improve their imagination and creativity; increase their concentration and discipline; boost their language skills … well, the advantages keep stacking up from there.
So, with that in mind, here’s a backpack full of great page-turners that Plugged In reviewed
Hallelujah! ‘Messiah’ Sing-Alongs Turn Audience into the Choir
The centuries-old tradition has returned to community theaters after a pandemic hiatus.
If you attend this year’s performance of Handel’s Messiah by the Des Moines Community Orchestra, you’ll walk into the sanctuary of Grace United Methodist Church and notice the orchestra, of course. But there’s no choir.
Isn’t Messiah famous for the exhilarating “Hallelujah” chorus? What about “For Unto Us a Child Is Born”?
This time, the choir is you—the audience, that is. You can borrow a score, and ther
King Solomon’s Advice to Americans in 2023
Thirty proverbs on power, justice, and politics.
The Book of Proverbs can be a humbling or even humiliating read. For every verse that lulls us into self-satisfaction of our righteousness comes another that aims its arrows at our own hearts too.
That incisive wisdom is particularly sharp when applied to election-year politics and our personal habits of political engagement. It’s uncanny enough to make us wonder whether King Solomon had foreseen cable news and Twitter. With another presidential
The Season’s Greeting Most Preferred for Happy Holidays? ‘Merry Christmas.’
Americans expected to send 1.6 billion cards this year, continuing Victorian-era tradition.
Debates about acceptable holiday greetings occasionally roil American retail stores and cable news shows, but when it comes to cards, most people prefer “Merry Christmas.” According to an industry survey, Americans send about 1.6 billion Christmas cards every year, and 53 percent carry the traditional religious greeting. “Happy Holidays” ranks second in card choice, and the more generic “Season’s Greetin
IRS Agents Slide Down Chimneys Looking For Gifts Of $600 Or More
<div><img src="https://media.babylonbee.com/articles/639367854a1b5639367854a1b6.jpg" width="400" style="width: 100%; max-width: 400px;"><p>MUNCIE, IN — IRS agents kicked off a new holiday tradition this week as they began nationwide canvassing of taxpayers' homes, sliding down their chimneys in search of undeclared gifts worth $600 or more.</p></div>
Rob Munro named as next Bishop of Ebbsfleet
<div>Rob Munro has been announced today by Downing Street as the next Bishop of Ebbsfleet, a role that gives him oversight of complementarian evangelical parishes within the Church of England.</div>
At World Cup, US Soccer Scrubs Islamic Emblem from Iran Flag to Support Protesters
<div>The U.S. soccer federation is displaying Iran's national flag on social media without the emblem of the Islamic Republic, saying it supports protesters in Iran ahead of the two nations' World Cup match Tuesday.</div>
The Laments of Advent: When It Doesn’t Feel Like the Light’s Coming Fast Enough
In these darkest days of the year, the very first days of Advent, and the last of a long year, I think that, wrapping a hand round my morning mug of warm, witnessing the sun pull itself out of the snow-blanketed fields and surely rise:
You can’t make light.
Sure, there’s the dance of the twinkle lights, and you can sleuth out the dud bulb on the Christmas Tree and twist in some brilliance, but this is the real epiphany:
All real light really isn’t from here — all real light comes fr
How Your Little Charlie Brown Christmas Is the Best Christmas Spirit of All (About Fear, Heartbreak & Hard Families)
There’s a bunch of kids here, sloshy with hot-chocolate, who just keep playing a Charlie Brown Christmas.
And yeah, I’m not ashamed — so what if it took me a few takes of watching to finally get it?
Because when I finally saw it, I was entirely taken:
Only when Linus retells the Christmas story and repeats what the angel announces, “Fear not!” — does Linus drop his blanket for the first time.
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: 40% offAnd I choke it back and swig down more of my fro
Civilians of the Gaza Strip: restricted and deprived
Palestine (MNN) — The Gaza Strip is surrounded by Israeli territory, except for a small border with Egypt. Ever since the conflict erupted in 2006, civilians living there can’t easily get in or out. Read more here.
To make things more difficult, Israel controls the airspace overhead and the waters offshore. Yousef AlKhouri of Bethlehem Bible College, who grew up in the Gaza Strip, explains. “There are many goods that are not allowed to enter Gaza, or, like vegetables and flowers, to be export
India’s anti-conversion laws draw global criticism
India (MNN) -- Representatives from 21 countries are asking India to improve the religious freedom of minorities. Human rights groups, including Amnesty International, released a joint statement condemning increased violence, hate speech, and anti-conversion laws.
“These laws can be used against minority groups that are not Hindus, including Christians, Muslims, and others,” Greg Musselman with The Voice of the Martyrs Canada says.
“Anybody that leaves Hinduism for another religion immedia