The Outward Focus

Flying in formation

JDE — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:22:00 GMT

One of the rites of summer is to witness humankind’s mastery of machines of the air. The Air Force’s Thunderbirds and the Navy’s Blue Angels have raised precision to an art form. When it comes to their awe-inspiring air shows, anything less than perfection is a recipe for disaster. A friend of mine with an understanding of formation flying explains it thusly: Formation flight consists of leadership and followership. The team leader is fully responsible for every maneuver; his job is to maintain...(read more)

Relative or absolute?

JDE — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:08:00 GMT

In his three letters written around the end of the first century, the apostle John addressed the Gnostic doctrines infiltrating the church in Ephesus and for which he was deeply distressed. The Gnostics, with their “special knowledge,” claimed to communicate with God on a spiritual plane. Jesus, because he was human, was made of “evil matter.” Therefore, He could not possibly be a deity. In the parade of human progress, we are circling back to that theological environment that threatened to...(read more)

What happened?

JDE — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:06:00 GMT

Fifteen years ago, evangelical theologian David Wells wrote, “I have watched with growing disbelief as the evangelical Church has cheerfully plunged into astounding theological illiteracy.” Less than a year later, Christian pollster George Barna published his findings that the beliefs and actions of Christians are by and large no different than non-Christians. What happened to the church that it no longer stands apart from the culture to which it is called to reach with the gospel of Jesus Christ?...(read more)

The source of our security

JDE — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:00:00 GMT

So how do you deal with rising gas prices, the growing threat of terrorism, wars and rumors of wars and disasters large and small? Do we worry and fret, or do we place our trust in a sovereign God who sees and knows everything and promises that all things work together for good? For those of us with the opportunity to influence children – whether as parents or as children’s and youth workers – the young ones in our charge, as they become aware of the world’s problems, will take their cues from us...(read more)

Where is the urgency?

JDE — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 17:44:00 GMT

It pours into your living room via the television and through your computer monitor every hour, every minute – bad news. Tornadoes rip through the Midwest, shredding towns and leaving thousands to pick up the pieces. The spiraling price of oil sends shockwaves through our economy, forcing people to choose between gasoline or food. An earthquake in China kills 30,000. A typhoon leaves 80,000 dead in Myanmar. Saber-rattling continues unabated throughout the Middle East. Famine decimates entire nations...(read more)

Embracing the smell

JDE — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:02:00 GMT

There is an old saying making the rounds: “The church is much like Noah's ark. If not for the storm outside, you couldn’t stand the smell inside.” How true. The only escape from the stench of animals in close quarters was to jump into the floodwaters of destruction. This observation speaks directly to the dilemma of my friend John, who has become disillusioned and disenchanted with the church because of the self-destruction he has witnessed among Christians who cannot resolve conflicts in a...(read more)

Gaining a ministry edge

JDE — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 14:27:00 GMT

Every church has it – a continuous competition for resources, funds and people. Missions vie for resources with youth ministries. Youth ministries compete with Sunday schools. Sunday schools compete for classroom space and materials. There are never enough volunteers. All too often, a church’s ministries become fragmented and isolated from each other, as each ministry and program seeks to satisfy its needs. Where does Awana fit into the resource matrix of your church? How well do you interact with...(read more)

Learning from success

JDE — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 17:20:00 GMT

The Southern Baptist Center for National Research at the North American Mission Board (NAMB) recently released the results of a study on evangelizing children entitled Not Just Playtime: Insights from Evangelistic Churches Reaching Children. You can read the fascinating report on the NAMB Web site in its entirety. For now, I’d like to emphasize a few key points. At a time when it’s abundantly clear that the prime time to reach kids is before they reach their teen years, the study indicates that,...(read more)

A real and present danger

JDE — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:27:00 GMT

What was Eliot Spitzer thinking? How could a man with so much to risk yield to lust? Spitzer has plenty of company, both past and present. King David, one of God’s most powerful and enduring saints, could not resist the lure of Bathsheba. Numerous political and religious leaders have also fallen in shame over the course of the past several years. School teachers have been caught engaging in affairs with their students. All you have to do is to look at the cancerous spread of shame and indignity...(read more)

Beyond the bubble

JDE — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:40:00 GMT

Human beings crave stability and will go to great lengths to achieve certainty and prosperity, often heeding the siren call of the “sure thing.” In the 1990s, the “dotcoms” led the market to unprecedented heights. Millions of people poured their efforts and money into the dotcom bandwagon only to see the bubble burst. Today, lending institutions and tens of thousands of homeowners facing foreclosure are now learning the hard lessons that are following in the wake of the bursting sub prime lending...(read more)

The power of a dream

JDE — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:09:00 GMT

We recently paused as a nation to pay tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who gave his very life in the pursuit of achieving equality in the eyes of men. This August will mark the 45th anniversary of Dr. King’s proclamation to America, “I have a dream.” While much work remains, much progress toward achieving equality has occurred over the last four decades. In the 1930s, two men stood in the basement of a burned-out furniture store on Chicago’s North Side. The Great Depression held the entire...(read more)

When promises go to pot

JDE — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 20:29:00 GMT

In 1928, presidential candidate Herbert Hoover promised “a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage” to all who voted for him. Hoover won the election in a landslide and less than a year later, the country plunged into the depths of the Great Depression. Not only were people forced to go without chicken and cars, many of them lost their pots and garages to boot. So much for campaign promises. Every election cycle brings political candidates offering promises as they attempt to sway...(read more)

Catching the fever

JDE — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 19:26:00 GMT

Every new year brings with it a great wave of religious fervor. Millions of the faithful gather each week to sing praises and shout words of edification and encouragement to their fellow believers. At no other time do otherwise seemingly sane people completely sell out their very souls and take to the highways and hedges to proclaim their allegiance. Of course, I’m talking about the football bowl season. By now, 32 bowl games have taken place and we are now in the lead-up to the holy grail of all...(read more)

A day to pray

JDE — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:36:00 GMT

The 56th Annual National Day of Prayer takes place today. The theme that has been chosen for this year is "America, Unite in Prayer" and is based on the verse from 2 Chronicles 7:14 which states: If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. I encourage all of us to pray for the challenges that face this great nation and for the leaders that...(read more)

Touching the Untouchables

JDE — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 12:32:00 GMT

Imagine a world where being born is considered a crime against society. For more than three millennia, the Dalit people of India have lived in that world and have suffered abuse at the hands of the higher castes. According to National Geographic, the Hindu religion designates four main societal classes, or castes. Within each are thousands of sub-castes. The 160 million Dalits are a group considered so unworthy that they do not have a designated caste – in effect, they are considered subhuman. ...(read more)