Active Faith

Dr. Debra A. Schwinn: The Place of Higher Ed in Civil Discourse

Civil discourse is a critical skill for citizens in any democratic society. In our increasingly polarized culture, it can be challenging to embody a spirit of humility, compassion and patience. Our world is filled with beautifully diverse ideas and perspectives, and many college campuses are grappling with how to navigate important global conversations in this context. In this article written by Palm Beach Atlantic University (PBA) Wordship Director and Professor of Communication and Media Ecology Dr. Stephanie Bennett, she shares how Christian colleges can encourage civil discourse rooted in Christ’s love and compassion. “But, speaking the truth in love…” The […]

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Joseph D. Kenner: A Fragrance That Endures

At a recent Convene nonprofit leader peer group meeting, one of our members shared a devotion from Mark 14:3–9, a familiar passage that carried a renewed urgency. In the story, a woman breaks open an alabaster jar of costly perfume and pours it out on Jesus. Some saw waste. Jesus saw devoted, sacrificial worship, as this woman endured the scolding and indignation of the onlookers. More than that, He declared that her act and her story would be remembered wherever the gospel is preached. Over 2,000 years later, we continue to tell her story. That moment has stayed with me, […]

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Omar Aleman: Enough Is Enough

Generational wealth is commonly described as “financial assets passed down from generation to generation with the primary goal of providing family members with a financial future.” This is customarily accumulated through long-term investing, building equity, business ownership and life insurance, among others. In my case, I received “generational liabilities” from my parents, but thankfully today Julianne and I are very intentional in creating a plan that provides assets for our children, which we believe is a noble cause. Our battle cry is found in Proverbs 13:22 where King Solomon stated that “a good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s […]

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Dr. Rob Pacienza: What Has Harvard to do with Jerusalem? A Christian Perspective on Higher Education

In the United States, higher education has become a growth industry. Since 1970, the number of college students has more than doubled. However, it seems that Americans cannot quite agree on what a college should do and what type of graduate it should produce. Some Americans want universities to be merely job-training institutions. Others want them to be hotbeds of political activism. Yet others want universities to produce culturally literate citizens.  For Christians, this raises the question: “In God’s design, what is a university for?” More to the point of this article, “What is a distinctively Christian university for?” The […]

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Dr. O.S. Hawkins: Be Filled!

There is only one commandment in all the Bible related to our relationship with the Holy Spirit. It is found in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians: “Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5’18).  Being filled with the Holy Spirit is not an option for the believer. It is imperative for Christian living. Every verb has a number, a tense, a voice, and a mood. When dissecting this phrase — “be filled” — in its original language, we find that the number is plural, meaning everyone, all of us. The […]

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Franklin Graham: Until the Whole World Hears

Jesus’ last command to His disciples — before ascending into Heaven some 40 days after His victorious resurrection from the grave — were: “You shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). Recently, I had the incredible opportunity to preach the Gospel of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ near the southernmost point of South America — literally the ends of the earth. The Holy Spirit moved mightily during the two-night Esperanza Ushuaia Festival, as hundreds of people in the capacity-filled auditorium and overflow area repented […]

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Dr. O.S. Hawkins: Culture Shock

As I type the words culture shock, my mind is racing back over the decades of my life. Flashing before me are the many changes I have personally witnessed in the cultural collapse of the Judeo-Christian ethic of our Western world in my lifetime.  I was born in 1947 and spent my boyhood days in the 1950s, when tens of thousands of American troops had just returned home from Europe and the South Pacific at the conclusion of World War Il. They married their high school sweethearts, and what sociologists have termed the baby boom began. In the 1950s, we […]

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