The new year is coming, and I, for one, am beginning to think about how I’m going to do my daily devotions in 2019. I know that for me to be consistent, I need to put some plans in place. For the past several years I’ve made great use of the Five-Day Reading Plan and…
A new year is just about upon us, and as it dawns, we have a new opportunity to lead our families in devotions. Whether you’ve been utterly consistent or mightily struggling, here are 10 ideas and 10 tips that may help as you consider the year to come. Ten Ideas for Family Devotions Just Read…
Do you love to read? Do you want to learn to love to read? Do you enjoy reading books that cross the whole spectrum of topics and genres? Then I’ve got something that may be right up your alley—the 2019 Christian Reading Challenge. Whether you are a light reader or completely obsessed, this 2019 Christian…
Every year, more and more retailers participate in Cyber Monday. And, as you can see below, many Christian companies have joined in. Here you’ll find a list of Cyber Monday deals that may be of particular interest to Christians. Accordance Accordance has 30% off everything as well as some even deeper cuts on certain products.…
There has probably never been as much Christian music created as there is today. It can be a chore to sort through the vast amounts of noise to find the few songs that present timeless truth in fresh ways. One group that does this well is Australia’s CityAlight. They are creating music that is a…
A friend made the request. He’s looking for books to read and to recommend to others. “Give me a list of 50 or 60 authors you’ve read and a representative book by each of them.” His wish is my command. Here are 50 or 60 contemporary authors I’ve read and a book by each of…
I am thrilled to announce the release of study guides and presentation slides for my new booklets Set an Example and The Character of the Christian. These guides are ideal for individual study or for groups of teens or young adults. Both sets include a study guide and presentation slides. The study guide is designed…
Do you love to read? Do you want to learn to love to read? Do you enjoy reading books that cross the whole spectrum of topics and genres? Then I’ve got something that may be right up your alley—The 2018 Christian Reading Challenge. Whether you are a light reader or completely obsessed, this 2018 Christian…
The cross of Christ and what happened upon it stands at the very center of the Christian faith. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed” (1 Peter 2:24). This is the great doctrine…
The digital age has brought with it a proliferation, a full-out explosion, of communication tools. In fact, it’s not difficult to argue that the digital revolution has primarily been a communications revolution. Just consider how many of today’s innovations in both hardware and software are designed to help us communicate better and faster, to take…
I mentioned recently that part of the joy of being Reformed is entering into an existing, defined stream of theology. (See Use Your Catechism, Silly.) As Reformed believers, we have a well-defined reference library of creeds, confessions, and catechisms, and it is wise to ground ourselves in this established body of truth. To that end,…
At the heart of the Christian faith is this statement: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Christians are those who have been saved. How well do you know know the doctrine of salvation? This quiz is designed to help you find out.…
Much of life is an attempt to bring order from chaos. The pastor who sets out to prepare a sermon fills his mind with information and then needs to arrange it according to a unified theme. The author who sets out to write a book collects information from a hundred sources and then needs to…
As Christians, we are blessed with a long legacy of great hymns. As contemporary Christians, we are blessed with many modern-day hymn writers who are carrying on the art. So how well do you know your hymns and their authors? This little quiz is designed to find out!
It’s the time of year for blogs and other sites to provide their annual round-up of the year’s most popular articles. I don’t know why we do this, but it seems to be a tradition. On that basis, let me tell you who visited and what they read in 2016. The site served up well…
Over the years I’ve found that one of the trickier parts of blogging, or any regular writing for that matter, is maintaining an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a means of organizing current and future writing projects to take them from conception to publication. It organizes the process of progressing from vague ideas to…
With a new year approaching, many of us are considering how we can make the most of the opportunities it will bring. Many of us are considering how we can actually generate opportunities that will help us make the most of 2017. I have invested a lot of effort into defining and pursuing productivity through…
I love blogs. I followed hundreds of them this year, scanned tens of thousands of their headlines, and read thousands of their articles. They were a great blessing to me and today I want to pause to honor a few. I want to share my top 10 blogs and bloggers of 2016 and also tell…
In general, there are two approaches to daily Bible-reading: intimacy and familiarity. Intimacy with the Bible comes through slow, meditative reading that focuses on small portions—deep study of key books, chapters, and verses. Familiarity with the Bible comes through faster reading of much larger portions—the entire sweep of the biblical narrative. Both are wonderful approaches…
How well do you know the nativity story? This short quiz is designed to help you find out! It poses 25 quick questions based on the Bible’s accounts of Jesus’ birth. Take the quiz, share the quiz, enjoy the quiz! Best of all, let the quiz take you to the Bible to read more about…