A few Sundays ago, I was heading home after preaching three times. I was tired and looking forward to opening my laptop and reading my favorite blogs—particularly ones focused on missional theology and leadership. Just then I received a text message from a friend. He was inviting me to a club to see a band with a number of non-Christians, including one I had been trying to build a relationship ...

The movie Wall•E is about a lonely robot who for 700 years has been cleaning up the trash left behind by humans on an abandoned planet. Wall•E stands for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter–Earth class." While we are never told so, it is likely that Wall•E is the last operating robot on the planet.

In this scene Wall•E arrives at his "home"—an old storage building on the outskirts ...

A man who had no interest in spiritual matters related casually to the Christian who lived next door—they talked over the back fence, borrowed lawn mowers, stuff like that. Then the non-Christian's wife was stricken with cancer, and she died three months later. Here's part of a letter he wrote afterward:

I was in total despair. I went through the funeral preparations and the service like I was ...

At my daughter's elementary school musical, the printed program noted: "This musical was originally written for 15 actors, but it has been adapted to accommodate our cast of 206." You know what kind of show this was. No-cut auditions, no performer left without something special to do. They danced, they sang, they delivered lines, and somehow 206 children graced the stage that night.

It was not a short ...

Improvisation is the willingness to live within the bounds of the past and yet search for the future at the same time. Improvisation is the desire to make something new out of something old.… It is experienced in being open to letting the people around you…have impact on what you are creating.

Wynton Marsalis is the artistic director of jazz at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts ...

As I read accounts of the New Testament church, no characteristic stands out more sharply than [diversity]. Beginning with Pentecost, the Christian church dismantled the barriers of gender, race, and social class that had marked Jewish congregations. Paul, who as a rabbi had given thanks daily that he was not born a woman, slave, or Gentile, marveled over the radical change: "There is neither Jew ...

My uncle Greg had cerebral palsy, and he was a quadriplegic. He was an incredible inspiration to me. He was one of those guys who had a golden attitude, and he accepted his lot in life and ministered to a whole lot of people in his own way. He was able to get around quite well with an electric wheelchair, but his speech was difficult to understand.

A few years ago he attended a handi-camp week at Country ...

Mark DeYmaz, pastor of the Mosaic Church of Central Arkansas, is passionate about building a multi-ethnic and economically diverse church. In his book Building a Healthy Multi-Ethnic Church, DeYmaz stresses the church—especially the American church—ought to reflect the many colors and cultures that dot our landscape. The diversity this requires is not an easy task. Nonetheless, the church ...

A 2007 study by the Barna Group found that seven out of ten adults choose their earthly family over their heavenly Father when asked to choose the most important relationship to them. Of the 1,004 adults over the age of 18 that were surveyed:

• one-third said their entire nuclear family is more important than God.
  
  
• twenty-two percent named their spouse as the most important relationship in their lives.
  
  

A recent study by Harris Interactive found that most adults who have children under 18 share a meal together several times a week:

• Forty-seven percent share 5–6 meals together as a family.
  
  
• Twenty-eight percent share 7 or more meals.
  
  
• Fourteen percent share 3–4 meals.
  
  
• Eight percent share 1–2 meals.
  
  
• Three percent never share a meal together as a family.