God

Faithful Leaders Are Made Not Born

We’ve all heard the popular phrase that leaders are born, not made. While I’m not going to argue whether or not that statement is true or not, I will contend that faithful leaders are made not born. The reality is that our region needs faithful leaders more than ever before. Each and every one of us stands on the shoulders of faithful men and women of God. We’d know some of their names, but the vast majority of these faithful leaders are nameless. Single mothers who prayed daily. Fathers who would awaken before dawn to meet with the Lord. Youth […]

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Giving Thanks for the True Bread from Heaven

For the last three months we have been engaged in a new apologetic focus: Surprised by Jesus: Encountering Christ in the Old Testament. I have been preaching this as a sermon series at Cross Community Church, and it is available for you to hear at sermonaudio.com/thecrosscc Because this is the month of Thanksgiving, I thought we should pause to give thanks for the True Bread from Heaven. We will continue with our three-part formula for finding Jesus in the Old Testament by using these three headings: The Problem, The Promise, and The Person. Next month we will have a special […]

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Freaking Out

I am assuming that you are either experiencing profound peace or a level of anxiety and freaking out that you find almost unbearable. Perhaps your reality is dictating these emotions. You are deeply devoted to your country, your church, your career, your circle of friends etc. However, your emotions are affected by the latest news, a text, a conversation, something you read or simply what side of the bed you woke up on. Sometimes these thoughts and feelings may vary by the hour. Therefore, how in the world are we supposed to lead a normal, healthy and somewhat meaningful life, […]

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Freedom

Les‘s article on freedom  in last month’s Good News made me start thinking about the importance of understanding what it means to be free in Christ. I know Les was making the point that freedom in Christ is not a license to do anything we want, and because of current noise from the world we live in, I think it is even more important that Christians be able to explain to those around them how our world view is at times directly opposite from those in our work place, neighbors, friends and even family members. So I thought I would […]

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Nourish Your Nazareth

My love for music started at a young age. I loved the melodies, harmonies and tones. Music was just something that caught my attention no matter where I was or what situation I was in. There would even be times where in the middle of a dream, I’d conjure up a melody. Some of those melodies I still remember today. Because of this love for music, I got to end up in interesting situations, but never in a million years did I ever imagine myself being where I am today. Basically, I never thought I’d be using music for the […]

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Church Connect: A New Opportunity Emerges

Forty years ago, South Floridians across hundreds of different ethnic backgrounds, race and life stages gathered to hear one of the icon evangelical figures to this day. They listened intently as Evangelist Billy Graham passionately commanded the attention of those in Lockhart Stadium as he gracefully pointed them towards Jesus Christ. Thousands were saved. Fast forward 20 years and you’ll find over 300,000 South Floridians gathered across the beach in Fort Lauderdale to participate in one of this community’s largest evangelistic efforts to-date: BeachFest. Thousands were saved.    Church Connect: A New Opportunity Emerges Alongside hundreds of other local churches, […]

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Thanksgiving Thoughts

I get nostalgic around Thanksgiving. A few years ago, the holiday had me thinking back to my childhood on the mission field in the Middle East. Thanksgiving in Israel Those were dangerous times. We were evacuated three times amid gunfire and threats, my Dad was arrested in Iraq, and he was even kidnapped by Palestinians. We had to leave this missional minefield, but my parents figured out how to continue the ministry via correspondence courses.   The power is not in the sower, the power is in the seed This is when I began to understand the power was not […]

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Surprised by Jesus – As The Almighty Ark

I (Scroll down to leave a comment on Jesus being the Almighty Ark) want to thank several of you for your positive and encouraging comments on our new study, “Surprised by Jesus: Encountering Christ in the Old Testament.” As I said previously, when I was first exposed to seeing Jesus in the Old Testament, it changed everything about how I read the Bible. I hope that you too will be delighted to discover Jesus in places you might never have seen Him before not so much to increase your knowledge, but rather, your love for Jesus. You can also go […]

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Three Reasons Christians Should Vote

Visit MyFaithVotes.org to access your Voter Guide. As Americans, we are allowed the unique opportunity to influence our laws. For Christians, this means we must bring our biblical worldview to the public square. Instead of kings who wield absolute power for entire lifetimes, America was established as a nation ruled by the people. The government’s ability to wrest power from the people was reined in by an ingenious system of checks and balances. But what is often missed by pundits today was the expectation of our Founding Fathers, all of whom held great reverence for God and Scripture, that leaders […]

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The Snow Globe Effect

I hope that during your lifetime you’ve had the chance to hold a snow globe. The snow globe is either a toy or piece of art that displays an idyllic scene that is encased within the confines of a clear globe, a liquid and small specs of “snow.” The idea is that when you shake the globe, the clear scene becomes covered with a make-believe snow fall, transforming before your very eyes a most beautiful snowy scene and creating one of the most wonderful feelings one can have, the feeling of a first snow fall. However, the perfect scene is […]

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