Earlier this week, Pastor Josh Harris, pastor of Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, disclosed that he’d been a victim of sexual abuse when he was a child. The timing and context for this confession has something to tell us about the long-lasting effects of abuse in a victim’s life.

Harris’ church was “mother ship” of the network of 80 or so churches churches of Sovereign Grace Ministries, though the congregation left the SGM family a few months ago. SGM was recently the focus of a lawsuit alleging sexual impropriety and a system of coverup lasting many years by some of its key leaders. The lawsuit was dismissed because of a technicality, though the plaintiffs’ lawyers plan to proceed with a civil suit.

Though I’ve never met Harris in person, I’ve followed him since he was a kid via the ministry of his parents [Read moreH]

I’ve received more than 400 responses to date from those over 40 when I queried them about their relationship with the local church, I saw a trend among respondentsaway from the same level of involvement they’d had a decade earlier. I’ve reported on what I was hearing from people who took the survey here, here and here.

However, 28% are just as involved and 25% are more involved in their local church than they were a decade ago. Here’s what a few in this slight majority had to say about why they’ve remained involved. [Read more]

I’ve been awake since 3 a.m., watching CNN’s coverage of the Moore, OK tornado. (Jet lag or midlife? Today, I’m pretty sure it’s the former.) My prayers are with the resilient people of the area, with those who are serving them today and beyond – and most of all, with those who’ve lost cherished loved ones.

This world can be simultaneously dangerous and beautiful. The paradox is palpable for me every time we visit Israel, a land with a history that simultaneously illustrates both realities. [Read more]

Last night as the sun set, Jerusalem silenced herself in the same way she does each Friday night. It is Shavuot (Pentecost), a day set apart to thank God for giving the Law to his pilgrim people at Mt. Sinai after he freed them from slavery in Egypt. Jesus’ disciples headed to Jerusalem as he told them to do just before he ascended to his Father. They would have wanted to be in Jerusalem anyway, as Shavuot is one of three yearly festivals where the Jewish people would have flocked to the Temple bearing offerings – this day, of the first fruits of their crops. They’d been measuring the days from Passover to Shavuot, counting as God had commanded them to do. Thatcounting of days each year had wired expectation into them, and Jesus’ words had ignited the counting, waiting, wondering. [Read more]

I was introduced to Peggy White by a dear friend at a retreat a couple of years ago. Not long ago, I heard that Peggy retired from her special education teaching position, after earlier stints teaching home economics and working as computer-aided draftsperson. She’d returned to school in order to get her master’s degree in special education, and worked for more than a decade with a multi-grade classroom with students who had a combination of emotional/behavioral disorders, specific learning disabilities, cognitive disabilities and autism. But for Peggy, “Retirement” is another word for “God’s New Teaching Assignment”. [Read more]