Posts by Kevin Schaal
Christianity and the School Choice Movement
By 2015 or so, it seemed like the Christian School movement in the US was close to death. For thirty years, many church-based schools strangled their mother institutions. Some church-based schools thrived but only with very careful control of enrollment. Homeschooling overtook Christian Schools as the Christian Education of choice, but that left many students…
Read MoreUnited Methodism: How Conservatives Won the Debate, but Lost the Denomination | Jack Jackson | First Things
Going forward a few things are noteworthy. First, the UMC is fast lurching to the left. Second, progressives didn’t take over the denomination by presenting a compelling vision so much as by simply ignoring the denomination’s democratic form of church law to such a degree that the denomination itself became ungovernable, leading to a mass…
Read MoreThe false promise of keeping a loved one ‘alive’ with A.I. grief bots | America Magazine
With the creation of A.I., anthropomorphized chatbots are one critical example of how the rapidly advancing technology is testing the limits of the human condition. Source: The false promise of keeping a loved one ‘alive’ with A.I. grief bots | America Magazine
Read MoreThe Glory of God, Alcohol, and My Brother in Christ
Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31) I have been preaching a series through the Book of Proverbs recently, and I finally got to the subject of social drinking. Proverbs has a lot to say on the subject. The language is clear.…
Read MoreSocial Justice and the Word of God
He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 17:15) God is a just God and He demands that human beings treat one another justly. So why aren’t the Social Justice Warriors of our culture falling back on the Bible as they…
Read MorePastoral Ministry as a Second Career
Is it possible to enter ministry as a second career? Not exactly. My concern is more about the word “career” than it is about the possibility of a midlife change of direction. Ministry is a calling, not a career. It must be directed by God, but God can direct any time He chooses. We need…
Read MoreDo Not Forsake Your Father’s Friends
Proverbs 27:10, 17 says, Do not forsake your own friend or your father’s friend, nor go to your brother’s house in the day of your calamity; better is a neighbor nearby than a brother far away. As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend. I would like to spend a…
Read MoreCan public school students learn the Bible? Here’s how we do it
The red bus arrives at Beechwood Elementary School in Whitehall, Ohio, throughout the day. About 15 students pile on each time, then it drives a few blocks to a church down the street. For the next 40 minutes, the students learn basic biblical teaching alongside virtues such as honesty, integrity and kindness.When the lessons are…
Read MoreAnti-Semitism is Horrible Sin
Some things have to be repeated over and over. This is one of them. Respect of persons is a sin. Racism is a sin. And for the same reasons, anti-semitism is a sin. There are basic biblical principles that apply here. Choices of blessing and cursing belong to God, not man. God’s choice to bless…
Read MoreSBC lost over 1,200 churches in 2022, data shows | Church & Ministries News
The Southern Baptist Convention, the United States’ largest Protestant denomination, lost more than 1,200 member churches in 2022, according to a recent data analysis from LifeWay Research. According to the analysis of the SBC’s 2022 Annual Church Profile published Tuesday, Lifeway found that, from 2021 to 2022, 1,253 congregations were no longer part of the…
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