Gospel.com Blog

We ask ourselves, “what if?” questions all the time. What if I lost my job? What if the stock market crashed? What if my significant other left me? Theoretical questions like those often bring about undue stress and worry. It is only when we face trials that we learn our greatest life lessons.

In the following devotional, Our Daily Bread talks about how real life trials are necessary for growth:

Real trials in life are not ifs—they are whens. In fact, life’s most profound lessons cannot simply be observed, they must be experienced. It is there, in actual seasons of heartache and loss, that we gain greater insights into life, faith, and our need of God. To that end, James wrote, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience” (James 1:2-3).

Read the rest of the devotional at Our Daily Bread.

What trials have helped you grow? Did you count is as “joy” when you were in the midst of them?

Today is the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks, and writers around the web are contributing thoughts and reflections about that fateful event and its aftermath. One such site is Relevant Magazine, which has asked a number of writers from the Burnside Writers Collective to share their thoughts on 9/11 and the effect it’s had on their spiritual lives. The reflections are short, honest, and thought-provoking.

What about you? Where were you on 9/11, and what went through your mind when you first heard the news? What does it mean to you today—is it just another tragedy (albeit a particularly horrifying one) among many that have struck the world before and since? Or has it had a more profound impact on your faith?

Ramadan begins tomorrow—are you ready?

Ramadan is, of course, an Islamic tradition, not a Christian one. For Muslims, it’s a month-long period of fasting and prayer. But some Christians are suggesting that we use the month of Ramadan as a time of special prayer for Muslims around the world.

Arab World Ministries has put together daily Ramadan prayer points for Christians, each of which highlights a specific prayer need “for Muslims, Muslim background believers or Christian workers based in the Arab world.” If you’d like to participate, just check back each day over the next month for a daily prayer point.

Mission Network News is also running a story about Ramadan if you’d like more background about it. If you know of other Christians or ministries who are using the month of Ramadan as an opportunity to pray for Muslims and Christians in the Arab world, please leave a comment below!

The Leadership Summit at Willow Creek Community Church is underway! The summit’s goal is to develop authentic leaders within the church, and it presents an impressive and varied array of speakers: Bill Hybels, Tony Blair, Bono, Carly Fiorina, and more.

The best places to keep up with what’s happening there are probably the official summit Facebook page and Twitter feed. Out of Ur is liveblogging from the summit, as are Tony Morgan and Justin Wise. Even if you weren’t able to attend, you can still get a good feel for the summit from these posts and writeups.

It’s John Calvin’s 500th birthday! Well, it isn’t exactly his birthday quite yet (that doesn’t happen until July 10 this year). But that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from celebrating the hugely influential theologian’s life and work—there are conferences engaging Calvin’s legacy scheduled all throughout the year.

You don’t have to adhere to Calvinist theology to acknowledge the enormous significance of Calvin’s contributions to church history. Calvinism continues to be an important influence in Christainity today; Time Magazine recently noted its resurgence in evangelical circles. In honor of Calvin, then, here are a few links to help you get in on the celebration this year:

• Not surprisingly, Calvin College in Grand Rapids has an extremely comprehensive list of Calvin-related conferences taking place in 2009. They’re taking place all over the world, from Tokyo to Calvin College’s own backyard in Michigan.
• Perhaps the biggest Calvin celebration this year is the Calvin Quicentenniary, a conference and tour that visits most of the major locations relevant to Calvin’s life and ministry, and which features talks by a wide range of Calvin scholars. Have room in your schedule to visit Geneva, Switzerland this July?
• Even if you’re not participating in the big Calvin conference just mentioned, the Calvin 500 Blog is posting daily about all manner of Calvin-related events, trivia, and discussion.
• If you aren’t familiar with John Calvin or his teachings, there’s a good overview of his life and theology at the Christain History Institute. The Wikipedia entries for John Calvin and Calvinism have more detailed information if you’re interested.
• Calvin’s most important written work, Institutes of the Christian Religion, is available online for free at Christian Classics Ethereal Library, if you really want to delve into Calvin’s ideas.
• Not every Christian adheres to Calvinist theology, of course. The main theological branch of Christianity that is generally set in opposition to Calvinism is Arminianism. Googling around the web will turn up a lot of different (and strongly-held) opinions about the two strains of theology; for a neutral perspective, start with Wikipedia’s entry on the ongoing Calvinism/Arminianism debate.

Calvin’s birthday might not be the flashiest event in church history, but it’s an important one. Take advantage of this anniversary to learn a bit more about one of the church’s most famous scholars!

Next week will see not one, but two separate conferences put on by members of the Gospel.com community!

First up is the Internet Ministry Conference, hosted by Gospel Communications (creators of Gospel.com, among other things). Over 200 people—representatives of internet ministries both large and small—will gather in Grand Rapids, Michigan for four days of workshops and networking, all focused on the challenge of doing effective online ministry. Registration for IMC is closed, but keep an eye on the conference blog for updates and reports during the conference.

The other conference next week is the Revival Conference, hosted by Sermon Index. Registration is still open, and it’s free—so if you can make it down to Atlanta, Georgia next week, consider attending! There will be a live webcast of the conference on the conference website starting on October 21, so if you can’t make it, you can still participate online.

That’s a busy week—hope you can attend one of these conferences!

By now, you’ve probably read reports about the massive cyclone that has left thousands dead and many more missing in Burma. Mission Network News reports:

The death toll could rise to over tens of thousands in Myanmar after a cyclone struck early Saturday, according to government sources. State radio says 22-thousand have died and thousands more are missing.

Some news sources report that the government’s response thus far has been slow or lacking. The road systems are not in good shape and communications are essentially down.

It is predicted that the cyclone may have the largest death toll since the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia which killed 181,000 people in its path. “Obviously hundreds of thousands of lives are being terribly impacted, having lost their bamboo homes and watching their family members die. It’s been horribly devastating,” said Gospel for Asia’s K.P. Yohannan.

It’s difficult to fathom that much death and destruction. And it’s all too easy to chalk it up as another “other side of the world” crisis that doesn’t affect us, and move on to the next headline. But when disasters like this strike, there is tremendous opportunity and need for a Christlike response. Among the many ministries and organizations already responding to the crisis are two from the Gospel.com community:

• Gospel for Asia, which has converted its Bible college in Rangoon into a makeshift shelter for refugees and survivors. They set up the shelter after the local police station was destroyed; it’s currently providing shelter to over 80 people, plus 70 children from a nearby orphanage that was destroyed.
• International Aid, which has a lot of experience responding to crises like this, is calling for financial help in organizing a large-scale relief effort.

In addition to these ministries, organizations such as the Red Cross are already reacting to the situation. Consider whether you can help out by supporting one of these relief efforts—and be sure to put the entire situation at the top of your prayer list. If and when we hear of other ministries in our community getting involved with relief efforts, we’ll note them here.

The status quo is never ‘”good enough.” And so, once a year, the staff of Hollywood Jesus gathers at Renton, Washington’s Harambee Church, for the Hollywood Jesus Annual Gathering—there to revisit HJ’s foundational goals, build bonds of fellowship, and hone skills in order to bring the best possible cultural insights to the web.

Better yet, the event is also open to readers, pastors, and writers from other publications! On tap for this year’s workshops—December 29 through 31—are writer and critic Jeffrey Overstreet, recently honored at the City of Angels Film Festival; Peter T. Chattaway, film critic for CT Movies and Books and Culture; Mike Gunn, Harambee pastor and co-founder of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church; James Harleman, Mars Hill pastor; author, animation scholar and educator Ken Priebe; Hollywood Jesus founder David Bruce; HJ Managing Editors Greg and Jenn Wright; and HJ Channel Editors Melinda Ledman and Maurice Broaddus.

That’s an impressive lineup of Christians on the cutting edge of faith and culture. If that sounds like something you’d like to participate in, you can read more about the Gathering and get registration info over at Hollywood Jesus.

Are big, planned events still necessary or useful in youth ministry today? So asks Mark Cornelison at the Youth Ministry Exchange. He argues that the logistical nightmare of planning youth ministry events is still worthwhile—so long as we understand the place of those events in ministry, and have a clear idea of what we hope to accomplish with them.

The Youth Specialties ministry addressed this same question a few weeks ago in Wendy Walker’s article More Than a One-Night Stand: Behind Mere Event Hype (PDF).

This November, the National Youth Workers Convention will take place in Atlanta, Georgia–but there’s something new happening at this particular convention! Before the main convention begins, there will be a special pre-conference gathering of women who are involved in youth ministry. It’s called Herstory, and it includes two main sessions and several different seminars and breakout sessions, all focused on the particular challenges and opportunities that face female youth workers. Whether you’re paid or volunteer, rookie or veteran, take a look at the Herstory website and consider attending it in addition to NYWC. It’s a chance to share your story, and to hear the stories of other women who know what you deal with in your ministry.