For the past several weeks, my theme here in the NCF blog has been “God’s Story Goes On,” with an emphasis on the fact that the biblical records were not recorded just to tell us what happened some time “back then,” but to invite us into God’s ongoing story. It means a lot to me
Read MoreShe crashes the party and stands at Jesus’ feet as he eats and talks with the others who have been invited to Simon’s formal banquet. She is not wanted—by anyone other than Jesus. (Well, not quite true. We later find out through Jesus that God wants her, too.) There is a lot to learn and
Read More**This post was written Kristin Tennant, a member of the NCF community, for her blog, Halfway to Normal. Michael Powers plays drums for NCF worship services nearly every Sunday. ———— He’s not your typical street corner evangelist. In fact, most people who know of Michael wouldn’t tie the word “evangelist” to him at all, unless
Read More2 Chronicles 29-30 tells the story of one of the great renewals/revivals in ancient Israel. People move from burning their children as sacrifices to the gods to renewing the worship of Yahweh. The entire story is one that invites us to allow God to continue this great story in our lives and in our fellowship.
Read MoreMany of us often ask ourselves “What can I do to serve God?” but we’re less likely to combine that question with this one: “What do I love to do, and do well?” The narrative of 1 Samuel 17—one of the most commonly told and perhaps most commonly mis-told narratives in the Bible—brings those two
Read MoreIf you were to ask the average believer what Easter’s “lead story” is, you might receive this response: “God did the biggest miracle of all time.” Or, someone might answer, “God proved that He can do great miracles.” Someone else might answer, “Now we know what our future will be like.” Yet another common response
Read MoreGenesis 2:18 claims that God knew from the beginning that “It is not good for the human to be alone.” Nevertheless, a reality upon which modern literature, art, and theater often focus is human loneliness. God has allowed something to become a part of the wounds of our existence that God knows is “not good.”
Read MoreIn my previous post (Is Hell a Key Tenet of the Christian Faith?), I focused on showing that references to “Hell/Gehenna” in the New Testament are almost all from words credited to Jesus and are almost all warnings to church/religious leaders not to abuse their influence. Never once does Jesus threaten the tax gatherers, the
Read MoreQuite a number of you have mentioned the current controversy about the PR surrounding a book by Rob Bell, a prominent pastor in Grand Rapids. Since neither I nor almost anyone else has read the book (“Love Wins”), which is just being released today, I have no interest in pretending I know exactly what he
Read MoreIn 2 Kings 5 there is a fairly well-known account that features two somewhat-known people to Bible readers (Naaman and Gehazi) and one person who is quite well known (Elisha). But do you ever think about how indispensable the “bit players” are in God’s great story? Or, in your life’s story for that matter? In
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