Christward Collective

Last month, I boarded a plane to Africa--together with my wife and three kids. We did so in order to become the parents of four kids. Early in our marriage, my wife and I felt a desire to see our family grow through adoption. Circumstances being what they were, we waited several years before...

One of the things that I realized the first time that I taught through the book of Genesis is that the patriarchal narratives look far more like something that you would see on Showtime than something that you would hear on Focus on the Family. Whether it is the record of Cain murdering his brother...

One of the many wonderful things about the Westminster Shorter Catechism is that it includes several extremely important theological pairs ( i.e. joint categories) in the opening questions that help us robustly systematize the biblical truth concerning our relationship to God, God's work in the...

I love playing ultimate frisbee. I’m pretty sure my GPA in college would have been a few points higher had I not spent so much time tossing a plastic disc around with friends. When people ask me why I love ultimate frisbee so much my recurring response is, “Come on! How many other...

In every genre of Scripture, whether it be narrative, Psalms, wisdom or the Gospels and Epistles, warnings against sexual sin are prominent. From Genesis to Revelation, every book of Scripture teaches that believers are to vigorously pursue sexual purity and forewarns against transgressing God...

When we think about forgiveness, we usually think about three areas for which we need forgiveness: our thoughts, our words, and our actions. And each of these three areas can be viewed in terms of sins of commission and sins of omission, what we have done and what we have not done, and so on. But...

At New Covenant , we enthusiastically encourage parents to keep their children in the worship service--the whole worship service. Being with the congregation in the worship service from childhood is one of the greatest privileges that God has given to children growing up in a Christian home. That...

As a local church, dare to think beyond yourself. There is everything right about encouraging or inviting people to your church services, and promoting such outreach events as a summer VBS. In fact, it is good and right to focus on ministry in our own little portion of the vineyard. This is why the...

When talk turns to exile, Christians ought to understand the full sense of that term. God’s kingdom does not advance despite opposition from the world, but as a result of it. The church is experiencing her own exilic quality in many parts of the world, and the American church should not think...

" True worship, then, will be odd and perhaps even weird to the watching world…Christian worship is, in fact, a bold political act. It subverts the world’s values by assigning glory and praise to the one whom the world despises. And as weak as the church at worship might appear to...