Gospel.com Blog

Mildred and Manolo Padilla had it all–fame, musical talent, and all the glamour of celebrity life. But something was still missing. Feeling uncertain and alone, they turned to Christ–and in doing so planted the seeds of a Gospel outreach that has persisted for over two decades.

At the CAM International website, read the inspiring story of how the Padillas, Guatamala’s premier singing sensation, came to meet Christ–and how they’ve influenced countless others through their music ministry.

Is there a Christian case for environmental stewardship? Christianity is often seen as indifferent (or even hostile) to modern issues of environmental conservation. Does the Bible give us any guidelines for relating to our environment on Earth? Is Christianity responsible for careless and destructive attitudes towards the environment?

These are the questions addressed by Preston Bristow in a recent article on the root causes of the ecological crisis today. Bristow relates the story of early Christian ecological pioneers, presents the case for Biblical stewardship of the Earth, and challenges Christians to discard destructive and un-Biblical ideas about humans and their relationship to God’s Creation.

What did Jesus mean when he said that his coming would set mother against daughter, father against son? In “Hating Our Brother,” Laurence Windham takes a look at some of Jesus’ difficult pronouncements about the effect of our faith on our relationships with nonbelieving friends and family:

It would seem that these passages are telling us that we are living our lives so differently (i.e. by gospel standards) that the results are conflict with our own kin. Not that this is the goal; rather it is the fallout we endure and deal with because of the goal, that being pleasing God with our lifestyle.

Is conflict with others an inevitable result of our embracing of a Gospel lifestyle? Should we be alarmed that our faith causes conflict with nonbelievers and try to downplay it? Read the entire piece for Windham’s thoughts on this difficult question.

What are the qualities of a good father? Being a parent–much less a good parent–isn’t easy, but evangelist Max Lucado has some words of wisdom for dads in his latest weekly Bible study. Download How to Be a Good Dad [PDF format] from the Upwords ministry website–it’s 13 pages of reflections and study questions to help you or your small group get to the bottom of Biblical fatherhood.

Famous leaders throughout history have called on others to “follow them”–but Jesus’ leadership was very different from that of the political and religious leaders of his day. What does Jesus’ life teach us about Biblical leadership?

In an article at the Officer’s Christian Fellowship, John Cross identifies three lessons about leadership from Jesus’ ministry. Want to be an effective minister or leader in your community or church? Read about how Jesus’ style of leadership differs from what conventional wisdom might say about the topic!

Hollywood Jesus has a new look! The new design does a great job of organizing the vast quantity of content there. Go pay a visit!

Have you ever been confronted with the question “How could you possibly believe in the Bible?” No book in history makes such important claims–and has received so much critical attention–as the Bible. Christians say that they believe in the Bible, but do you really believe that it’s true? How well do you think the Bible stands up to serious questioning?

That’s the question Amy Orr-Ewing is discussing in You Don’t Honestly Believe That, an essay from late last year about the Bible and its authenticity. How would you respond to claims that the Bible isn’t a reliable document, or that it has no real meaning for contemporary readers? Orr-Ewing’s essay is an in-depth look at a difficult but important issue–the reliability of the Bible.

Nobody said marriage was easy (and if they did, they weren’t being honest with you). So how do you deal with the problems and questions that inevitably crop up in marriage–questions like “How do I balance love and discipline as a parent? How should I relate to my in-laws? What should I do when my spouse does something that irritates me?”

If you’ve ever bumped into those questions in your own marriage, you know the answers aren’t always clear. To help you out, the Winning at Home ministry has a large archive of questions and answers about marriage and family issues. They gather together a long list of frequently-encountered marriage problems and questions, and answer each of them with a short audio clip from their resident relationship experts! If you’ve run into a wall in your marriage or parenting, take a few minutes to browse through their answers and see if they can’t offer you some fresh insight.

Do Christians, in their evangelistic efforts, focus too much on “selling” Jesus, as if salvation were a mere product like any other? Shawn Young, writing at the InterVarsity website, suggests that when we think too hard about “selling Jesus” to potential converts, we’re actually taking on a responsibility that isn’t ours:

It recently dawned on me… that I’ve thought of evangelism as a sales job.

The problems with this paradigm are obvious. Jesus is not a product. So many products in our world are unnecessary—but Jesus is absolutely essential. And if we minimize or negate the cost of following Jesus, we are being terribly dishonest…. The packaging we try to put Jesus in might make him appear more attractive to the target population, but the fact that we try so hard to dress up our Savior and make him soft or “relevant” shows that we think our Product can’t sell itself, as it were.

In other words, according to Young, sometimes it’s best to just proclaim the Gospel and refrain from trying to make it more “attractive” than it already is. He goes on to suggest a number of ways we can rethink our approach to evangelism.

There’s obviously a very fine line between presenting the Gospel in a way that people will understand, and burying its power with too many attempts to make it “relevant.” Take a look at Young’s challenging piece and give some thought to the way you approach the task of evangelism!

Is it possible to remain faithful to Christ while at the same time standing up for the rights of those who disagree with us? That’s the question Mart DeHaan is asking in his latest Been Thinking column:

My guess is that most of us would vote to protect a person’s right to be a Buddhist, Muslim, or atheist American. Yet, who would deny that voting to protect a person’s right to reject Christ is as serious as the public policy issues that are dividing us?

In today’s political climate, Christians are often asked to defend the rights of those who don’t share our beliefs or values. Are we ignoring Christ’s command to spread the Gospel when we stand up for the rights of other to practice non-Christian religions? DeHaan suggests that, in the face of such ethical questions, it’s time to remind ourselves exactly what it is that we believe. Read the full column and take a few moments to ponder this important–but often undiscussed–issue.