The springtime sun rises over the California coast, gradually warming the invigorating morning breeze. A rainbow of flowers adorns this mountainside that slopes gracefully down to the Pacific Ocean, on which is nestled Pepperdine University. Halfway up the mountain, a tall white stone cross signifies to all who see it the faith commitment and purpose of this distinguished institution of higher learning. This past week (April 29-May 2, 2003) the university hosted its 60th Annual Bible Lectures and Sara Faye and I were among the 4,000-5,000 believers who gathered to share four days of … [Read more...]
Archives for November 2013
MINISTRY AT PEPPERDINE
Each Spring, Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. sponsors a four-day event known as the Annual Bible Lectures, with keynote sermons based on a particular biblical book or theme. This year, May 1-4, 2001, the theme was "Shaped by the Cross," with a focus on First Corinthians. As many as 6,000 persons packed the University Fieldhouse for worship and key addresses. Hearts raised, many hands raised, and the roof practically raised as well with old-time, four-part harmony, a cappella singing of traditional hymns and contemporary praise and worship songs. Besides the main lectures, some … [Read more...]
MEETING NEW FAMILY
God was present and gracious at the Kentucky/Indiana Christian Fellowship Week the final week of July 2008, during which I was privileged to speak once on grace-gifts (charismata) generally and one time each on healing and prophecy in particular. This is an annual event hosted by the premillennial Churches of Christ. It was a pleasure finally to meet many of these brothers and sisters, gospel-loving, mission-minded and enthusiastic hymn-singing people whose spiritual ancestors were driven out of the mainstream Church of Christ during a dark and disgraceful time in the early 20th … [Read more...]
HEALING A BREACH
During the 1930's and 1940's, a group of congregations were pushed out of the mainstream of the Churches of Christ because they believed that when Jesus returns, he will reign for 1,000 years on the earth. Most Churches of Christ interpret the "millennium" in Revelation 20 figuratively rather than literally. A gracEmail subscriber in Tennessee asks how this church division might now be set right. * * * The history of Christianity has included some horrendously unchristian behavior -- Catholics and Protestants killing each other, Calvinists and Lutherans persecuting … [Read more...]
SPIRITS FILLED IN SPRINGFIELD
Our spirits were filled to overflowing with joy and praise last weekend in worship, fellowship and study at the Springfield Church of Christ in Virginia, where I was privileged to make five presentations on Saturday and Sunday, then field an hour of Q&A discussion on Sunday night. Our topic was spiritual leadership, which included a study of the ministry of women in the New Testament. All the presentations were recorded and will soon be available (with Power Point) at no charge on the church's website. I will inform you when those are ready. An unincorporated area of approximately … [Read more...]
THE SHADOW OF SECTARIANISM
Churches in Hawaii and other exotic locations regularly see a considerable number of visitors, often outnumbering the local residents. One Sunday this month (September 2009), our Maui assembly included vacationers from Churches of Christ in Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, and California, holding doctrinal opinions as diverse as the places they called home. It is a joyful thing to receive fellow-believers because they love and follow Christ, without having to apply some creedal litmus test to determine their worthiness. Unfortunately, not everyone yet experiences that particular joy, as a visitor at … [Read more...]
PUTTING THE PUZZLE TOGETHER — TOGETHER (2)
In the seminar last Saturday, we applauded the undivided church of the first several centuries for giving us the "rule of faith" expressed in the Apostles Creed, as well as the New Testament canon itself. We must struggle, as the early catholic church did, to balance "identity" (how the church is different from the world) alongside "universality" (how to make the church at home in every culture). We can learn from the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox to stand in awe at God's transcendent mystery, the value of spiritual disciplines, and (from the Western side) to appreciate Mary as a model … [Read more...]
TRIP TO PERU (3)
"Christianity," someone says, not talking to me. I look up instinctively from my seat on this Continental Airlines 757, its two Rolls-Royce engines translating 87,000 pounds of thrust into a soft purr. We are cruising at 39,000 feet toward heaven inside this mighty bird -- its wingspan almost half a football field in length. More than six miles below, the desert coast of Peru unwinds like a dusty ribbon along the blue Pacific. Across the aisle from me, Mark completes a crossword puzzle with quick dispatch. We flew to Peru last Wednesday on business. Now it is Sunday, and we are bringing home a … [Read more...]
TRIP TO PERU (2)
It is a veritable Garden of Eden, the Spanish conquistador reported to the folks back home. Thanks to irrigation, Lima, the Peruvian capital city Francisco Pizarro founded in 1535, might still claim that title. Purple bougainvillaea bespeak a royal heritage.Yellow amancaes, red cannas and resplendent orange blossoms which I cannot identify disguise the coastal desert beneath this city of eight million souls. The city shivers from May until October under a damp cold mist the locals call the "garua." But this is November and today the sun beams down from a clear blue sky. Traffic lights … [Read more...]
TRIP TO PERU (1)
Imagine three Californias and you visualize the size of Peru, where people already lived busy lives when Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees. The Incas were its best-known inhabitants, ruling and thriving from approximately 1,200 A.D. until the Spaniards slaughtered Tupac Amaru, the last Inca ruler, in 1572. This is the land of Machu Picchu ("ancient peak"), the lost city of the Incas, and Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake at 12,725 feet. Peru, like Roman Gaul, is divided into three parts. Along the Pacific lies the desert coast, where one also finds most of the major cities. … [Read more...]