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Delayed Leadership

Phil Letizia
1 Jan 2018
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Four years ago our daughter Jane came into the world. In extraordinary fashion, she was born in our driveway during the pitch-black hours of the night before we could even attempt to drive to the hospital. Life-altering moments filled with confusion, adrenaline, and every kind of emotion. Those moments also carried with them the realization that Jane was born with Down syndrome. I’ve been a pastor for ten years. Five of those years were spent organizing a new church in our hometown near the Ft. Lauderdale. We felt God had given us a specific and unique calling, one that would […]

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Eight Strategies to Strengthen Your Marriage

Terry Morrow
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Recently, our community experienced the outer bands of Hurricane Irma. Though we didn’t suffer a direct hit, as expected, we spent the days before the storm preparing for the winds and rain that were threatening our homes and families. I began to wonder, “Do we spend the same amount of intentional energy on protecting and safeguarding our marriages?” Though the news doesn’t cover it, and it is unlikely that we will see hourly visual updates on the projected paths of the storms brewing in our lives, threatening winds and rains threaten our marriages on a daily basis. God promises protection […]

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Christmas Rehab

Anitra Parmele
6 Dec 2017
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  We’re all familiar with the underlying wisdom behind the instructions to place the oxygen mask over our face even before reaching over to help our child in the case of an in-flight emergency. How can we truly be prepared to assist others if we are on the verge of unconsciousness? If the Christmas season leaves you gasping for air, Melissa Spoelstra’s Total Christmas Makeover might be the perfect gift. Whether you spend the season terrified that you are always one tray of cookies and a secret gift short or you wonder why your holiday doesn’t come close to the […]

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Give Your Kids and Teens What They Really Want This Christmas

C.J. Wetzler
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In 2015 IKEA, the Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture and home furnishings retailer, asked “Why do we insist on not giving our children the gifts they really want for Christmas?” To answer this question, IKEA created an experiment in which children from 10 different families were asked to write two separate letters: one to Santa Clause and the other to their parents. As expected, to Santa Clause, kids requested everything from the latest tech to a unicorn. In the other letter however, the one to their parents, kids wrote, “I want you to spend more time with me… that we do more […]

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Dealing with Infidelity

Norm Wise
6 Nov 2017
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“Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery” (Hebrews 13:4 NLT). Tom Smith, the highly respected academic survey researcher, has this to say about extramarital sex: “The best estimates are that about 3% to 4% of currently married people have a sexual partner besides their spouse in a given year and about 15% to 18% of ever-married people have had a sexual partner other than their spouse while married.” www.forbes.com/2009/06/28/sanford-ensign-affair-opinions-columnists-extramarital-sex.html There are few heartaches as severe to any married person who is faithful […]

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4KIDS will Celebrate 20 Years with a Family Festival Featuring Hawk Nelson

The Good News
19 Oct 2017
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In the 1990’s, South Florida was a dark place to be a child in foster care. A broken system led to national news headlines of children suffering from abuse, starvation, disappearance or death in the very homes that were supposed to be safe. Then one bright woman began knocking on doors pleading for forgotten kids. One church listened, and in 1997 Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale caused this little spark of hope to spread like wild fire. It developed into what we now know as 4KIDS of South Florida. Now celebrating 20 years, 4KIDS of South Florida has been a beacon […]

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Smart Financial Moves for New Parents

Edward Jones
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If you’ve just had a new baby, your life is filled with more joy (but less sleep). You’re probably already aware of the time and effort you must invest in raising your child, but you may not have thought as much about another aspect — the financial one. Consider this: The average cost of raising a child to age 17 is now $222,360, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report on how much middle-income, two-parent families spend on their offspring. And this is the amount you might spend before your son or daughter heads to college. Clearly, you need […]

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When Storms Hit Hard

Terry Morrow
12 Oct 2017
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Last month, South Florida experienced the effects of what many expected would be a devastating hurricane. As we prepared for a direct hit from a category 4 or 5 storm, schools and businesses closed so we could prepare for the wind and potentially flooding rain. Prayers were lifted for the storm to move and spare us. . .  and, almost miraculously overnight, the path of the hurricane shifted west to stay mostly in the ocean. Our prayers had been answered. While we were still impacted by the outer bands of the hurricane, most homes and families weathered the storm relatively […]

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Spiritual Friendship and Marriage

Norm Wise
5 Oct 2017
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“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another”  (John 13:34-35 NIV). “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). I have been counseling people since 1972. I began counseling married couples in 1982. Most of these couples have been people who professed faith in Christ Jesus. They sang in choirs, served on deacon boards and went on mission […]

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Change is in the Air…

The Good News
3 Sep 2017
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This year, with the annual health coverage election periods rapidly approaching, people have more questions than usual regarding both Medicare and the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare. Obviously in this highly dynamic environment, anything we say today can change tomorrow, but let’s try to answer some of your questions as best as we can. I don’t have insurance this year; will I have to pay the penalty? This is a complicated issue. The president can declare that the penalty for not having health insurance won’t be imposed this year. Since the IRS works for the executive branch, they would then be obligated […]

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