What in the world could a declaration by that name have to do with those of us living here on the south side of Atlanta? Well, it simply bears the name of the place where a gathering of well known and respected national Christian leaders met about a year ago to make an important and historic faith declaration, much like the governmental declaration that was made in Philadelphia in 1776. Read More»

I’ve said this before. I’ve written it before. But it bears repeating. Please listen again and give this consideration in your life.

I love Jesus. I hate the devil. I am guided by the Bible. I want to stay away from evil. I want what’s best for our children. I will protect them whenever, wherever, and however possible and necessary.

Can I get an Amen to that? (See, you good Baptists are rubbing off on me in lots of appropriate ways.) Read More»

Come and sit with me in the front row of a lecture at the Theological Conference I attended recently. The professor is about to begin. He’s the Rev. Dr. Stephen J. Hultgren, a Bible scholar from Fordham University in New York. He’s a solidly grounded young scholar with a brilliant mind and wonderful balance of tradition and modern methods for using and interpreting Holy Scripture. Read More»

I love history. I love Sunday School. So it only stands to reason that I would love the “History of Sunday School,” right?

Here’s a short version, thanks mainly to an article by Timothy Larson of Christian History magazine.

Sunday Schools were originally schools where poor children could learn to read. The Sunday School movement began in Britain in the 1780s. The Industrial Revolution had resulted in many children spending all week long working in factories. Christian philanthropists wanted to free these children from a life of illiteracy. Read More»

I love stories that reveal far more than what is on their surface. As a matter of fact, Jesus loved stories that revealed far more than what was on their surface. We call His stories”parables.” Much of what we remember about Jesus is His teaching in parables. The Good Samaritan, the Prodigal Son, and the Lost Sheep are just a few examples

Here’s a story for your mid-summer reading. I pray you’ll be drawn into it, so that it can reveal to you the Truth beyond its surface. Read More»

I don’t agree with everything at www.alliance4lifemin.org, which I credit with all the following information, but they recently reminded me again, as they did six years ago when I shared similar information with our Citizen readers, of the very important connection between our Christian faith and the start of our country. As we near the celebration of the Fourth of July, I ask again that we not forget this wonderful connection! Read More»

VBS. Vacation Bible School. No, it’s not mentioned in the Bible per se, but what it is, what it gives to children, and what it accomplishes in families is what the message of Jesus and the Bible is all about. Question: will you be sending your children to VBS this summer? I sure hope so.

Most every church in our community will have VBS this summer. Check The Citizen for dates and times that work for you. Read More»

A friend of mine told me a story about his father who was an Army Chaplain during World War II. The chaplain said that he was teased with the standard tease of clergy that he sure had an easy job because he only worked one day a week. But the chaplain had a standard answer that kept humor in the conversation and deflected the barb. He’d say, “Well, I put in for pay clerk, but that job was already taken,” referencing that pay checks came out only one day a month, so the pay clerk must have an even better job. Read More»

I’ve always said that someday I’m going to design a church to fit the natural instincts of most people. The main element will be pews on a conveyor belt. When people walk into the church, there will be only one pew available — in the back, of course — just where everybody wants to sit! Then, when the back pew fills up, the whole pew would move to the front on a conveyor belt, and a new empty pew would pop up in the back for the next group of people and so on. Read More»

This year during Lent, the 40 “spiritual awareness” days before Easter, everyone in our congregation is reading daily devotions from “Where In The World Is God?” by Steven J. Carter. These daily meditations have been remarkably relevant and distinctly profound. Read More»