Practical Application

Four Ways to Restore Your Christmas Spirit

Jonathan Smith
9 Dec 2016
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Have you ever noticed that some people just seem to exude Christmas Spirit? Do they do this naturally or is it some secret? Let’s face it; none of us wants to be around a Christmas Scrooge robbing the season of joy. Yet, if we are real honest about how the season can affect us, it’s real easy to slide into a Scrooge mentality. So how do we restore the Christmas Spirit in our hearts?   Too busy for Christmas Consider the “busyness” that Christmas generally entails. There is shopping, planning, wrapping, coordinating, inviting, participating, cooking, cleaning, driving, ordering, scheduling and […]

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Unspeakable JOY!

Dr. Tommy Boland
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To be sure, this was my truth growing up. I could not wait for Thanksgiving to be over so we could put away the pumpkins, turkeys and little Pilgrim figurines.  Every day I counted down to that day . . . Christmas day . . . when we would finally get to open the presents under the tree, see everything Santa left behind, hoping it would not be a stocking full of coal, and bring baby Jesus out from behind the stable to lay him in the manger. Well, I am a whole lot older and a little bit wiser […]

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joy

Leaders See Things Differently

Paul Greasley
5 Dec 2016
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Leaders are people, like all of us. But there is something different about a real leader. Leaders see things with a clarity that brings life into focus. Leaders see things that other people don’t see. Physical eyesight is one of the five senses. We take special care to preserve our vision. A few years ago the total vision care market in the U.S. generated about 34.5 billion dollars. Eye sight is important. We often use the analogy of sight to express our agreement or disagreement with each other. Sometimes we say that we see eye-to-eye about a certain situation. At […]

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Seniors Benefit from Participating in Operation Christmas Child

The Good News
17 Nov 2016
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  Through active aging individuals can live as fully as possible within different dimensions of wellness, providing rich environments for living. With that in mind, Operation Christmas Child provides an opportunity for seniors to serve the Lord and reap many benefits for their own health and well-being. Senior Centers and Senior Living Communities often approach involvement as a seasonal program, or even as a year-round program, but the benefits to both seniors and to the children served by Operation Christmas Child OCC are immeasurable. A ministry of Samaritan’s Purse, Operation Christmas Child provides children in need around the world with […]

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Operation Christmas Child

Trinity International University Makes Strategic Moves

The Good News
3 Nov 2016
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Trinity International University (TIU) has announced its second strategic move to improve facilities and expand its local programs in the South Florida area. Last August, classes in Miami-Dade moved from a church site to a facility in Kendall with administrative offices, current technology and the classroom space needed to serve their Miami students. This month the Davie campus is moving to a location in Miramar to better fit their growing needs. These new facilities were designed especially for educational purposes and are expected to enhance the deliverance of all programs. The new site is conveniently located off of I-75 on […]

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Burnout: Recognize the Signs Before the Flame is Gone

John Hawkins, Sr
8 Oct 2016
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Recently I read an article about a senior pastor, Pete Wilson, of Cross Point Church, who resigned from the multi­site mega church he founded 14 years ago in Nashville, Tennessee. The reason he gave was that he was, “tired, broken and had been leading on empty.” What he was describing was what we refer to as burnout. Now you may be wondering how can a pastor be burned out? All he has to do is preach a sermon on Sunday morning. The reality is there are a lot of stressful jobs and pastoring is right at the top. Depression and […]

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Q Commons to Discuss Ways to Engage a Divided Nation

Edwin Copeland
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divided

We live in a nation that’s divided. We live in a region that’s divided. Our cities, our workplaces, even some of our own families are divided. In this moment, we are divided by culture, race, politics and just about every other difference you can image – or so it seems. We see protests and riots, hashtags and video clips, pundits and debates on television. We scroll through our newsfeed and become overwhelmed with dissenting opinions. In those moments it’s easy to get a sense that nothing could ever change for the better. The toxic combination of declining virtue alongside unfiltered […]

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Live a Steering Wheel Life Forever

Steve Davis
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Driving down the road never happens in a straight line; it requires using the steering wheel. It’s amazing how many hundreds and thousands of times we adjust the steering wheel to continue in the direction we want to go. A small adjustment is needed almost every second. That’s very much like living our daily life. So, count how many seconds there are in a 20-minute drive to work. Wow! That’s a lot of adjustments. Why is this like living our daily life? Well, there’s no such thing as a mistake-less, adjustment-free life. Think about it. Our to-do list is really […]

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Developing a Fully Generous Life

Shelly Pond
15 Sep 2016
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Developing a generous lifestyle

Gordon MacDonald, best-selling author and pastor emeritus of Grace Chapel in Lexington, Massachusetts, encouraged pastors that the church can impact the culture through its generosity. He shared his insights during a Church United meeting at First Baptist Church on August 25. It is always a blessing to see the diversity of pastors who are finding common ground in these quarterly gatherings. While some may be skeptical about ecumenical gatherings, Doug Sauder, pastor of Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale, is quick to clarify, “It’s not just unity for the sake of unity; it’s unity for the sake of mission.” And the mission […]

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Forgive As You Are forgiven?

Dr. Tommy Boland
13 Sep 2016
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  Every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer, I am always struck by these words: “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, KJV). Really? Do you really want God to forgive you in the same way you forgive others? I didn’t think so; neither do I! But what I do desire is to be able, by God’s amazing grace, to live out this truth in every area of my life. And this should be the desire of every Christian, because Christianity is all about forgiveness. You see, we are commanded to receive the vertical forgiveness that […]

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