http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=64105&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=What-Message-Are-We-Sending&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Thatâ??s why the attacks by some evangelical leaders on people in the LGBTQ community are so hurtful. Not only do these attacks strike at the weakest moments in some of their lives, but they often double the hurtful impact because the ambassadors of Jesus are expected to be loving. When these ambassadors are not loving, or even when theyâ??re just intentionally silent when shunning someone, it blindsides the hurting. This is particularly true for people who grew up in the church and are now pariahs in those supposedly safe havens.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=Is-this-the-best-given-youve-never-given&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
It's the Christmas season, just after your child's Christmas pageant, when all you want to do is get home with your family....and then you see this big guy crying in the back of the church. What would you do? Here's what one man did...
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=78612&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
What goes on inside that (detox) facility is terrible and difficult and smelly and terrifying to outsiders, but it's a battle for souls that matter. Too often, though, the battles won inside those walls are lost by what's happening outside, among friends and family and coworkers and employers and church members.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=64698&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
A young Christian chemist struggles to neutralize a caustic blend of workplace personalities. Sometimes she wonders: Should I stay or should I go? Across town, a reporter pursues truth against a growing tide of political correctness and cynicism. Sometimes he questions: Is my career worth all this grief? Even in the church down the street, tension is no stranger. Staff members ask these same questions, and their answers are frightening. Since the Fall, friction has been the by-product of human interaction, and these days it's kindled white hot.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=60592&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
An early fall breeze slipped beneath the trees, sweeping brittle, browned leaves in tiny swirls before it. The leaves scratched their protest on the sidewalk before disappearing into piles pressed up against the chapel where Jesse James' stepfather preached his sermons. The chapel's stone walls dammed the wind's efforts to create a river with leaves, so I shifted my gaze to the right.
I was stalling, of course, hoping I could will away a goodbye waiting inside the home on the grounds of this tiny church camp in Holt, Missouri. It was the summer of '76, the start of my final year of college.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=59845&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
Our small Christian Writers' Group had members from all parts of town. We needed a centrally located place to meet. Most places charge and we couldn't afford to pay. Then I remembered that a long-time prayer partner was a member of a church downtown. I placed a call and received permission to use her name. That's all it took. Doors were graciously opened at no charge. I was grateful and amazed. There is power in a name.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=58621&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
One summer my oldest son landed the job of mowing the lawn for the church of which I was pastor. The church building was located on a well-traveled county highway and we lived directly across from it on the other side of the road.
Both church and residence were at the intersection of the highway and a gravel crossroad. The intersection was notorious as the worst in the county, the site of a number of accidents over the years. The crossroad was on the east side of a significant rise which blocked the view of traffic to the west. Vehicles pulling out onto the highway did so based on blind faith. Traffic eastbound at highway speed had no warning of those cars entering the highway until they popped over the rise and there they were. It was a certain prescription for trouble.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=54912&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
The past week's emails included two long-time readers who'd cancelled their subscriptions because they disagreed with one sentence in the 357th devotional I'd posted since they joined. Just that quickly, the relationship disappeared after eight years. Earlier, I'd listened to a pastor I deeply admire complain about mortgage bailouts. "Nobody helped me." he started; a hugely discouraging attitude to hear from any believer. Then I read the article in Smithsonian about Christians fighting over the Church of the Nativity, and about how secular Palestinians are trying to fix the problem for us.
So, keyboard in hand, I zinged 'em all.
http://www.madetomatter.org/apps/articles/default.asp?blogid=0&view=post&articleid=52246&link=1&fldKeywords=&fldAuthor=&fldTopic=0
It's Christmas Eve 1945, and the tiny church is filled to capacity. Candles cast a soft glow in the dimly lit sanctuary. An elderly man steps to the pulpit and clears his throat slightly, gathering the attention of all in the room. "Our pastor asked me to read you this letter, written by his son last Christmas Eve."
