Gospel.com Blog

There’s a new interview up at Hollywood Jesus, in which HJ’s David Bruce talks to Tim McGraw about his music and his starring role in the new movie Flicka. Find out about McGraw’s thoughts on parenting, his church upbringing, the band Petra, and why he won’t be running for president anytime soon!

Stirring music, powerful preaching, a vibrant congregation–these are all factors in a healthy church service. But what’s more important than all of these factors? Do you know how to listen to God’s Word? Is Bible reading an important part of your faith, something you approach with joy and respect?

In today’s Revive Our Hearts radio program, Nancy DeMoss reminds us that the Word of God–the scriptures–should lie at the heart of both our worship and our everyday lives. It’s part of this week’s overall theme of learning to listen in worship.

How do we reach our culture with the Gospel message? For many Christians, making the Good News relevant to our culture means focusing increasingly on our experience of God, and less on tradition and church history.

In an article at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries, Stuart McAllister argues that Christian tradition–with its emphasis on Bible study and the pursuit of truth–is vital to our faith, and must not be set aside in the pressure to be novel and relevant in our evangelism and discipleship. What might we be losing when we turn our backs on our faith tradition?

I am not suggesting all things modern, or post-modern, are bad. I am asking us to take a look at the underlying values or transformational factors that we may be unaware of, and which may inadvertently be smuggled in. As Marshall McLuhan suggested in the 1960s, “The medium is the message.” The question we need to ask then is what medium might corrupt, distract, or deform the message?

Read the whole article, and consider what McAllister’s words of caution might mean for your church worship or personal spiritual life.

At some point in our lives, we all have to come to grips with the fact that there’s more to life than just living for ourselves. If we spend our time focused entirely on our own needs and wants, we miss out on the family, church, and community connections that add meaning to our lives.

But how, as a parent, do you encourage your kids to break out of the “it’s all about me” mindset? Children have a tendency to see themselves as the center of the universe; how can you teach them to consider the needs of others? A new article by Tricia Goyer at the Mothers of Preschoolers ministry talks about raising kids who aren’t completely self-absorbed. Read Goyer’s piece, and give some thought to ways you can help your kids think beyond their own wants and needs.

As a bill collector, George Fooshee has seen just about every type of financial woe imagineable. In our consumer society, debt and financial ruin lurk around every corner. So what does the Bible say about managing our finances? In an article at Back to the Bible, Fooshee calls on both his financial sense and his Biblical insight to outline ten Biblical financial principles you can use to keep your financial house in order.

How can your church’s youth ministry help teenagers cope with crises–from upheavel in their personal lives to community tragedies like school shootings? This month’s Youth Specialties podcast features an interview about that very topic with Jim Hancock and Rich Van Pelt, authors of The Youth Worker’s Guide to Helping Teenagers in Crisis. In the wake of recent school shootings in both Colorado and Pennsylvania, it’s as relevant as ever.

Tune in to the podcast at the YS website or via iTunes.

In just a few weeks, neighborhoods through the U.S. will be filled with customed children toting bags of candy from door to door. It’s Halloween–a holiday that has caused not a little stir in Christian circles throughout the years. Over the coming weeks, we’ll highlight some of the Halloween-related articles and resources at Gospelcom.net.

But it seems appropriate to start with “just the facts”–the historical story of the Halloween holiday. What’s the real story behind Halloween–is it a sinister occult holiday to be shunned? Is it a Christian night of commemoration? Strange as it may seem, the answer just might be “both”–read the Christian History Institute’s essay on Halloween’s historical roots in both pagan and Christian tradition. Christians often complain (not without justification) that many sacred Christian holidays have been co-opted by secular, non-Christian traditions. But Halloween just might be the case of a pagan holiday co-opted by Christian traditions!

Stay tuned for more Halloween links and resources as we approach the year’s scariest holiday!

update 10/12: link to the Halloween essay seems to be broken. We’ll update again when it’s back online.

Millions of Americans, even jaded by a long series of school shootings in the last decade, were shocked when news of deadly violence at an Amish schoolhouse reached the headlines. But as the situation developed, it was impossible not to notice that the Amish community was reacting to the violence very differently than many expected. Jabe Nicholson, writing at Uplook Ministries, outlines some lessons we can learn from the Amish community’s stunning extension of forgiveness:

Such forgiveness seems almost unthinkable to Western society. And one reason, it seems, has been the attempts over the last century to eradicate the concept of sin from our collective consciousness. If sin, guilt, wrong-doing are no longer currency, what then of forgiveness? In a world filled with such senseless acts, forgiveness becomes the most senseless of all, if there is no such a thing as sin.

Nicholson sees a reflection of the divine in this sort of forgiveness–and hopes that the Amish’s example will point the watching world to true forgiveness in Christ.

The Fox entertainment giant recently accounced the formation of a film division that will focus on faith- and family-friendly films–aptly called FoxFaith. Does this presage a shift in the way that Hollywood approaches Christianity and faith issues in their productions? Opinions are mixed about the effect FoxFaith will have on the landscape of popular entertainment, but Phil Boatwright of Preview thinks it may be a good thing. Read his detailed report on FoxFaith and the ways it might change the film industry.

Is Christianity a cure for emotional damage? Does emotional stability and spiritual maturity go hand-in-hand… and does that mean that a Christian with emotional problems lacks spiritual maturity? And what about people who experienced profound emotional turbulence earlier in life–abusive parents, broken families, sexual abuse, addiction–but who have now turned to Christ?

Will the emotional damage you’ve suffered hinder your spiritual life? David Seamands, writing at the Narramore Christian Foundation, looks at what the Bible has to say about damaged emotions.