Monthly Archives: April 2007

It looked like another night of degradation, of providing sexual favors to men who’d preach her into hell the following Shabbat—men who enjoyed her presence at night but denied knowing her by day. Miriam hated her life and was beginning … Continue reading →

It was perhaps the most well-attended elders and deacons meeting ever. The elders had called the meeting to discuss building a new church building, and everyone wanted to participate in such a momentous decision. There was no choice but to … Continue reading →

Well, we ordained two new elders today—poor guys. I was supposed to join them for lunch today and offer some words of advice, but my old nemesis, kidney stones, intervened to keep that from happening. During those few hours when … Continue reading →

I’m teaching a class on Luke and this is the next passage. It’s not an immediately transparent passage, at least not to me. (Luke 6:1-10) One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples began to pick some … Continue reading →

For reasons I can’t really explain, I’m just fascinated by Church of Christ listservs. I’m endlessly fascinated by the discussions that take place. Some are really quite insightful, even brilliant. Others are just a little odd, even worrisome. One of … Continue reading →

We in the Churches of Christ often resist the idea of being saved by “faith only,” as stated in the classic Reformation formulation, for fear of denying the necessity of baptism. Indeed, many who take a Calvinistic view of baptism, … Continue reading →

Our church’s ministries were overseen by “ministries team” for over a decade, and the team’s list of accomplishments is quite long. The concept doesn’t work in a very large church, for reasons to be discussed. And the concept won’t work … Continue reading →

As you may have surmised, my own church, with attendance of around 700, has struggled with how to fit our traditional teachings on deacons into our ministry structure. We went through a period where the church was run through monthly … Continue reading →

We have taught for a century that a scripturally organized church has a plurality of both elders and deacons. However, we seem not to have noticed that the Bible nowhere says what it is that deacons are to do. As … Continue reading →