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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Leading a Small Church, Part 1
I get emails. 1.) My congregation has less than 50 members now. It’s suffered some splits in the past but very much wants to be evangelistic and to grow. We are thinking about changing the congregation’s name to another scriptural … Continue reading
Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: Further Reading; How to Teach Hermeneutics
It’s time to move on — because I’ve run out of book. But there is, of course, much more that could be said on hermeneutics. I’m going to repeat some things I’ve said in the comments to make sure no … Continue reading
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A Christmas Video in the Spirit of Jesus of Nazareth
A Christmas thought — Merry Christmas PS — “Advent” is the four weeks before Christmas.
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An Old Story Made New — and Merry Christmas!
I’m a devoted reader of Patrick Mead’s Tentpegs blog. His latest on the origins of Christmas and its pagan roots is one for the ages. Read and enjoy! PS — Here in Tuscaloosa I’m as likely to get snow on … Continue reading
Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: The Sermon on the Mount
While teaching a class on the Ray Vander Laan series, it occurred to me that the key to the Sermon on the Mount is the Story. It should have been obvious, but it takes a while for these things to … Continue reading
Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: How Things Could Have Been Different, Part 2 (Division)
Surely the dominant characteristic of the 20th Century Churches of Christ was our propensity for splitting churches. A lot of good was done by the Churches in those days, with many missionaries sent, colleges founded, and such — but the … Continue reading
Church Software Suggestions?
A reader emailed me and asked for suggestions for a church website — where do you go for good web design if you have a very limited budget (church of 25 members)? What needs to be on the site? Where … Continue reading
Faith Lessons by Ray Vander Laan: The Rabbi (with a Blue Parakeet note appended)
The lesson begins at Gamla, a Jewish settlement founded after the return of the Jews from Babylon. The community is on the side of a hill, so steep that one family’s roof is another man’s floor. The opposite side of … Continue reading
Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: How Things Could Have Been Different, Part 1 (Race)
As I’ve been pondering this approach to understanding the Bible, I’ve asked myself how the church’s history might have been different had this approach had greater prominence in our thinking. How might the Churches of Christ behaved differently in the … Continue reading
Hermeneutics and Blue Parakeets: The Story and Our Salvation
As I’ve been thinking through this approach to hermeneutics, it’s occurred to me that there’s an obvious objection: where in this Story is salvation? Where is forgiveness of sin? Where is heaven? You see, in the religion I was brought … Continue reading
