God

Step Ahead

Elizabeth Mitchell
1 May 2018
no comments

“You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you…” (Deuteronomy 5:33). Babies do a lot of sleeping (When we desperately need some, they usually quit!). In the first few months of life, babies could almost be called couch potatoes, swaddled tight as a burrito, eating, sleeping and then sleeping some more. Children are altogether different, and their chubby legs are constantly on the move. Toddlers fall, get back up and fall again. They simply don’t mind. Children realize that in order to […]

-Read More

The Servant of Sickness

Dr. Tommy Boland
no comments

“Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I obey your word” (Psalm 119:67). Sickness Is sickness always an attack of the spiritual forces of evil in this world? If we are looking for the root cause of sickness then the answer is a resounding YES. Going all the way back to the encounter between Satan and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when sin entered into humanity through the willful rebellion of Adam and Eve against the revealed will of God, sickness was now a byproduct of the sinful condition. But now that sickness has entered […]

-Read More

sickness

Musings on Being Secular

Norm Wise
no comments

I think most people, even those who say they believe in God or even Christianity, are very secular in their “Monday Morning” approach to life. I know it is easy for me to fall into a “secular” frame of mind. What do I mean by secular? — Relating to the cultural or temporal concerns without any reference to big ideas, metaphysical thoughts, religion or faith. The core idea is that it is focused on the here and now. It is looking at life “under the sun” and not connecting it to the eternal. All things spiritual are irrelevant, impractical and […]

-Read More

Storms Inside Me

Isaiah Hazim
no comments

  This winter break, I, along with 450 other student ambassadors, embarked on a ten-day expedition to Israel. It was an experience I will never forget, and even more importantly, it taught me just how important Israel is to God. In total, eleven buses were filled with college students from all over the U.S., who had applied through their schools to become student ambassadors with a program called Passages to Israel. Along with thirty new friends, who quickly became family, I was on bus #9, one of eight students brought by faculty member Dr. Andrea Hazim, representing the Elev8Life educational […]

-Read More

In Plain Sight

Stephan Tchividjian
no comments
sight

Aging Sight I recently decided to explore having my aging eyes corrected so that I would no longer need to wear reading glasses.  I was not only inconvenienced by the readers but more importantly was getting some mild headaches and feeling tired from having to constantly adjust from readers to no readers etc.…my brain was overworking…. and who wants to overwork your brain? I will spare you the details, but the bottom line is that I was not a candidate for the common technique known as LASIK (laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis), where a laser reshapes the inner cornea of your […]

-Read More

God Is Uniting The Church for The Sake of Mission

Edwin Copeland
no comments

    As a result of research, prayer and the movement of the Holy Spirit, we believe that we are at a pivotal moment in the life of the Church in South Florida. By all accounts, the next 30 years will represent the largest missions opportunity in the history of not only America, but also our very own South Florida. We are witnessing the largest and fastest numerical shift in religious affiliation in the history of our communities. Pew, Barna and independent research all agree that even in the most optimistic scenarios, Christian affiliation in the U.S. will shrink dramatically […]

-Read More

the church

Soul Care for Pastors

Brian Brookins
18 Apr 2018
no comments

Pastors need care.  It is a simple statement, but many pastors live in practical denial of this truth. Pastors spend their lives pouring out care to others in many forms, and if they are not careful, they will give out care until they themselves give out.  Burnout, according to one recent study, is happening at an unprecedented rate, estimating that some 1500 pastors are dropping out of ministry every month.   I’ve been a pastor in this community for 30 years, and I can tell you that I’ve seen the isolation and difficulties facing pastors first hand. However, never before […]

-Read More

Wycliffe – A Call to Community

Bob Woods
12 Apr 2018
no comments

God has designed us to thrive and do life better when we live and relate with one another in community. This does not always mean that he wants us to sell all that we have and live in communes, as some did in the early days of the Jesus Movement in the 1960’s and early 1970’s. It does mean recognizing that he created us to function as members of one another, as stated many times in the letters of Paul the Apostle to the early Christians. A few of the 59 “one anothers” in the New Testament are “Encourage one […]

-Read More

The Paradox Of Aloneness

John Hawkins, Sr
10 Apr 2018
no comments

God said after the creation of Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone.” By divine design, we are created for relationships, with God and with others. One reason God’s law, the ten commandments, was given to us was to show us how to build a healthy relationship with God and others.   A normal desire Being in relationships is a normal desire. However, relationships do include risk, the risk of rejection, unmet expectations or betrayal to name a few. Aloneness can be a defense mechanism to the hurts of relationship. Once people have been wounded in a […]

-Read More

Scotland and Marjory Stoneman Douglas

Dr. Gary Hewins
no comments

I recently invested a morning with middle school students in Dundee, Scotland. Having been welcomed into their new school, we discussed life, aspiration and faith. I told them that they could ask me any question and I would tell them the absolute truth. They wanted to know why we, in America, have school shootings. They wanted a discussion concerning the recent tragedy at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They wanted real answers as to why we have guns in America. This reality does not compute in Scotland.   Wanting to give them an explanation, I discussed the reason why we […]

-Read More