Tag Archives: church
A Grand Stand by an Illinois Man
I first met Pastor Derek Buikema in my radio work around 2018. We broadcast my two-hour talk show from the Orland Park Christian Reformed Church (OPCRC) where he serves as lead pastor. Later, he would join me on a frequent segment I hosted called the Pastors Roundtable. Always an insightful guest.
Posted in Faith, Sexuality
Tagged Christianity, church, human sexuality, Pastor Derek Buikema
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Battle for the Church
Last week the United Methodist Church (UMC) caved to the LGBTQ agenda. For several years, the UMC has pushed back against progressive efforts to embrace same-sex marriage, the ordination of LBGTQ pastors, and the full inclusion of those who identify as LGBTQ into all church ministries and activities.
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Sexuality
Tagged Charles W. Socarides, children, Christianity, church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, LGBTQ, Presbyterian Church, sexuality, United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church
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Will The Real Church Please Stand Up!
“How Should We Then Live?” is the question the late influential Christian apologist and author Francis Schaeffer set out to address and answer.
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty
Tagged Christians, church, Francis Schaeffer, Pastor Brandon Myers, Pastor Calvin Lindstrom, Pastor James Pittman, Romans 13
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What to Say?
I saw a Facebook post recently re-shared by a friend I admire. You will need to read it all the way through to get the gist of it. Since it was a public post, here’s some of it:
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty, Sanctity of Life, Sexuality
Tagged Christianity, church, faith, homosexuality, repentance, transformation
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What Makes Easter…Easter?
Churches throughout Illinois are preparing for this upcoming Easter Sunday. Also known in Christendom as Resurrection Day. It is most certainly the most important of Christian celebrations on the calendar. I mean, what could possibly be more significant and impressive than a man crucified in front of witnesses come back to life a few days later?
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture
Tagged Christianity, church, Easter, Jill Biden, People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals, PETA, President Biden, resurrection, What Makes Easter…Easter?
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Online Sports Gambling – Church Leaders Beware!
Pete Rose was the all-time hit leader in Major League Baseball. However, he was gambling on the sport while playing. In the wake of the Pete Rose gambling controversy, he was banned from baseball on August 24, 1989.
Posted in Drugs/Alcohol/Addictions, Faith, Gambling, Marriage/Family/Culture
Tagged addictions, baseball, church, counseling, family, football, gambling, George H. W. Bush, Katherine Sayre, Kavita Fischer, MLB, Online Sports Gambling – Church Leaders Beware!, PAPSA, Pete Rose, sports, sports gambling
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Christians, Stop Living Like You’re Lost Part 2
In my last article I addressed the reality that many born-again Christians have been thinking and acting too much like the non-Christians around them. I pointed out particularly the willingness of so many to lie, or misrepresent the facts, when it appeared to benefit them. Sadly, abandoning truthfulness is not the only similarity between many of God’s people and the world.
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty
Tagged Christianity, Christians, church, God's Word, Scripture, Stop Living Like You’re Lost Part 2, Truth
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Mike Johnson and the Separation of Church and State
With Mike Johnson’s selection as the new Speaker of the House, the attacks were instantaneous. One criticism directed at the new Speaker was that he routinely violates the “separation of church and state.” If the accusers had any knowledge of American history, they would not quickly raise such an issue against a Baptist.
Posted in Education, Faith, Federal, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty
Tagged Atheism, church, First Amendment, John Adams, Marxism, Mike Johnson, Mike Johnson and the Separation of Church and State, Religious Liberty, Speaker of the House, state, Thomas Jefferson
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The Pastor
You may or may not know that October is “Pastor Appreciation Month.” Because I have pastored for thirty years, I am hesitant to write on this topic, but I also believe that it is an important issue. A number of surveys have revealed that there is a significant attrition occurring within the ranks of pastors which threatens the future of churches across the United States. These studies show that in recent years over fifty percent of the men who enter the pastorate drop out before achieving ten years of service.
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture
Tagged children, church, family, Marriage, Pastor Appreciation Month, Pastors
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Responding To American Secularization
It’s a topic that’s showing up more and more in books, thought pieces, news outlets, podcasts, and blogs, inside and outside the church: the secularization of America. Pew Research and Gallup (to name a few) have recently highlighted the rise of the “nones” (religiously unaffiliated) across the nation, specifically in the last several years.
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty
Tagged Albert Mohler, America, Christian Worldview, church, Daniel Darling, Jim Davis, Michael Graham, Nicholas Kristof, Responding To American Secularization, Scripture
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Dropping Like Flies
Some phrase origins are hard to pinpoint such as “dropping like flies.” A story in the May 1902 edition of the Atlanta Constitution might have said it first, “I saw men and women rushing back and forth within the flames. They would run along, then came the choking smoke and they would drop like dead flies.”
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty
Tagged American church, church, Dr. John Armstrong, Dropping Like Flies, Isaiah, Paul
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Christian Emergency League Update on the Orchard EV Free Church
In this recent dialogue local Chicagoland area Pastors Calvin Lindstrom, James Pittman and Brandon Myers give an update on The Orchard Evangelical Free Church (EFC).
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture, Religious Liberty, Sexuality
Tagged Brandon Myers, Calvin Lindstrom, Christian Emergency League Update on the Orchard Evangelical Free Church, church, Dr. David Wenkel, EFC, evangelical free church, God’s law and gospel and LGBT, Horatius Bonar, J.C. Ryle, James Pittman, LGBT, Lucas O’Neill, The Orchard, Thomas Hayes
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Is the Church in America Dying, as Some Say?
Recent assessments declare or imply that the church in America is dying. One headline described it this way: “Axios begins countdown to death of Christianity.”
Posted in Faith, Marriage/Family/Culture
Tagged Byron Johnson, Christianity, church, Glenn T. Stanton, Pew Research Center, Rodney Stark, the "nones", Trinity Decision, Zorach v. Clauson
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Prayer Precedes Revival: A Call to Prayer
Our country has never been so parched for prayer, yet we never have found praying harder.
Prayer is too hard for us, so our country withers.
