Jon D. Payne
Like it nor not, the smartphone is changing everything. Only a decade old, it is the most dominant culture-and-life-shaping technology in the world. With its myriad practical and compelling functions—Internet, phone, e-mail, texting, GPS, camera, photos, video, podcasts, music, social media, alarm clock, and so on—it has become virtually impossible to live without. This wouldn’t […]
In his noteworthy book Hipster Christianity, Brett McCracken describes the modern faddish approach to the Christian faith as being "more concerned with its image and presentation and ancillary appeal" than with real substance. "It assumes that mere Christianity isn't enough or isn't as important as how Christianity looks and is perceived by the outside world." […]
I once heard of an elderly Christian woman who had difficulty walking due to chronic arthritis. Despite her condition, she faithfully attended morning and evening worship every Lord's Day. When asked how she always managed to come to both services, she responded with, "My heart gets there first, and my legs just follow after." Unfortunately […]
When it comes to the Great Commission, Christian churches and missionary agencies are looking for better methods. God, however, is looking for better churches. Because churches are God's method. (1) Regrettably, many seem to have developed biblical amnesia concerning God's appointed method and means for missions’namely, the going forth of ordained missionary-pastors for the express […]
"Worship and the Reality of God: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence" by John Jefferson Davis
In general, American evan- gelicals have lost a true sense of the holiness, transcendence, and majesty of God. This is due in large part to a philosophy of public worship that appears to be focused more upon the presence of felt needs than upon the presence of God’and his divinely appointed means of grace. In […]
One Lord's Day as Robert Bruce (1554-1631) ascended the elevated pulpit at St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh, King James VI was comfortably perched in his royal gallery overlooking the congregation from the rear. The relationship between Bruce and the Stewart king, though once amicable, became strained due to Bruce's unwillingness to negotiate the truth in […]
In our day, the evangelical church in America is experiencing a blitzkrieg (lightening war) against biblical worship. The explosive shells of pragmatism, innovation, and amusement are slowly demolishing the church's understanding of both the nature and practice of Lord's Day worship. The chief strategist behind this bombardment is, of course, Satan himself, knowing that a […]
Just over one hundred years ago, E. M. Bounds began his influential book Power Through Prayer by calling the Christian community of his day to abandon their reliance upon the latest church growth "techniques" and to concentrate instead on communing with Christ by way of massive doses of Word and prayer. Bounds insisted, The church […]
