Tag Archives: Christianity Today Magazine

The longtime missionary’s resources trained generations of pastors and leaders. Only a few Christian leaders in South America have won as much unanimity in life as pastor, theologian, missionary, teacher, writer, and lecturer Russell Phillip Shedd, who died last weekend in São Paulo, Brazil, where he lived and served for more than 50 years. SheddContinue reading “Died: Russell Shedd, Brazil’s Top Evangelical Theologian”

Ruling on 2014 incident is rare moment of justice for Pakistani Christians facing blasphemy allegations. Last week, Pakistan sentenced five men to death for the murder of a Christian couple who were burned alive in November 2014 for setting fire to some pages from a Qur’an. A mob of about 600 people beat to near-deathContinue reading “Five Men Sentenced to Death for Burning Christian Couple Alive”

Can our people articulate a simple gospel message and call men and women to faith in Jesus Christ? There’s no question that church planting has become the hot new thing. And I’m glad. When I started my first church in 1988, it was an oddity. Now, it is mainstream. This morning, I am in aContinue reading “Increasing Evangelism in Church Planting”

How to share the gospel without making other people—or ourselves—so uncomfortable. Mark Teasdale began life in a “maverick” United Methodist church that emphasized evangelism more than most mainline brethren. When he grew up and moved away, he was shocked to find that many fellow Methodists thought of verbally sharing their faith as a foreign experience.Continue reading “Interview: Evangelism, Without the Weird Aftertaste”

Pharmaceutical companies may be to blame for the current opioid crisis. Dramatic stories of dangerous drug deals and deadly overdoses are true. But at least one root of the opioid crisis reveals that some of the most dangerous “drug dealers” in our country wear suits and ties to the office each day. One large reasonContinue reading “The Best-Dressed Drug Dealers”

How Russell Jeung met Jesus among the Southeast Asian gangs of Oakland. Growing up in San Francisco, Russell Jeung didn’t have much love for Oakland, his struggling neighbor across the East Bay. Yet Jeung has made his home in Oakland for more than 20 years, with much of that time spent ministering in Murder Dubs,Continue reading “Interview: My Home Has ‘Murder’ in Its Name”

“But women will be saved by childbearing,” may not mean what you think it means. At first, amid the unmistakable crunch of steel and aluminum, I thought I was the victim. A pang of outrage, a twinge of self-pity. But it quickly dawned on me that I was the one who caused the accident. IContinue reading “The Most Uncomfortable Christmas Verse”

How the gospel truth lightens our load. Grace is a slippery truth. In my faith tradition, I was taught to preach the gospel constantly to myself for exactly this reason. Our sin nature, the Devil’s wiles, and cultural scrupulosity conspire to make it easy for us to forget the gospel. I’ve always thought it oddContinue reading “Our Sustaining Force”

If history is any guide, there’s no escaping the hostilities that erupt every December. There is no easier way for politicians or pundits to rally the base this time of year than hyping the “War on Christmas” by liberal elites. Donald Trump’s son Eric told evangelist James Robison in an August interview that one reasonContinue reading “When Christmas Meets the ‘Umbrage Industry’”

Years after my dramatic, unlikely conversion, it seemed God had gone silent. I gaze around the tiny room, two chairs and a book shelf, the sunlight streaming through the windows. Stillness is foreign to me, a disquieting realization on this, my first day of a weeklong near-silent retreat. Susan Bowers Baker, a slip of aContinue reading “Crossing the Wasteland of Faith”