According to the Hartford Institute for Religious Studies, here are the top ten largest churches in the United States: Lakewood Church, 43,500 (Joel Osteen) LifeChurch, 35,000 (Craig Groeschel) Fellowship Church, 24,000 (Ed Young, Jr.) Willow Creek Community Church, 23,400 (Bill Hybels) North Point Community Church, 23,375 (Andy Stanley) Second Baptist Church, 22,700 (Edwin Young, #3’s… Read More »
If you don’t already to our message podcast from Bedford Road Baptist Church, you should grab it. You can download messages directly from the site or subscribe to them on iTunes.
Jony Ive, the mastermind of design at Apple, had this to say about Apple’s competition and why they fail to make designs with the same kind of hook that Apple makes: Most of our competitors are interested in doing something different, or want to appear new — I think those are completely the wrong goals.… Read More »
Yesterday, a group of guys from the church started work on the stage to update it. Basically, we’re just organizing wires and adding a couple of steps but it will make the stage more open and more “user-friendly” for the various people that are on it. Along the way, Bob (one of our elders) told… Read More »
I have to say that I really enjoy reading Kurt Willems’ blog over at Pangea. I have been reading it for the past couple of weeks and while I don’t necessarily agree with his perspective on some things, he gives you something to talk about. Reasons for Planting Churches Kurt is an Anabaptist and currently… Read More »
I have previously blogged on the danger of celebrity and the pitfalls that pastors and church leaders may fall into when the Christian media machine gets a hold of you. Lately (I think spurred on by Mark Driscoll’s most recent book and his rockstar persona), there have been a lot of posts about Christian celebrity.… Read More »
You quite literally can’t read the Hebrew Scriptures without encountering harvests of every size, shape and color. Since Palestine was a highly agrarian region for most of its history, harvests loom large. They define offerings and sacred holidays in the Torah. The barley and wheat harvests in particular defined the rhythms of life and even… Read More »
Let’s consider the times Jesus referred to his kingdom as sheep. Jesus really tackles this idea in John 10: As his sheep, we hear his voice and recognize his authority over us (v 2) We follow him only (vv 3-4) We do not follow the voices of strange shepherds (v 5) He protects us as… Read More »
In the midst of terrorism and presidential elections (and sometimes I am not sure which people take more seriously), remember that historically human government has opposed the work of the Church far more often than government has supposed us. Rather than complaining about the way the government makes life difficult, the followers of Christ should… Read More »
Yochanan b. Zecharyah was a Jewish teacher and prophet known to the Christian world as John the Baptist. In the gospel of Luke, he is Jesus of Nazareth’s second cousin and the son of a Jewish priest. Appearing at the beginning of all four gospels and described as the “forerunner” of the Messiah and the… Read More »
