By Curtis Going With the increased use of cell phones and hand-held devices over the past two decades, distracted driving has been a major topic of discussion among those responsible for transportation safety across the nation. The United States government reports that in 2016, 3,450 people were killed because of distracted driving. Every year, an estimated 421,000 Americans are in accidents involving a distracted driver. The US Department of Transportation defines distracted driving this way:...

By Duane Quesenberry Five Questions About My Worship Practices Dear Parishioner, Here are five questions for reflecting about your participation at Church this past Sunday, and the last three Sundays. Am I... routinely arriving for worship at the last minute, or late? Consider: How early do I arrive for events about which I am excited? usually sitting in the rear of the Sanctuary? Consider: Where do I sit when attending an event I really like? customarily not engaging in worship?...

Paul’s second letter to Timothy has a very significant warning for our times. In chapter 3, verse 5, the writer warns of perilous times wherein there should arise the grave danger of “having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.” So strongly does the apostle feel this danger that he urges, “From such turn away.” In other words, he is warning us that this is a danger so great and so subtle that we must, at all costs, keep independent of its dire and disastrous results. The warning...

By Rick Jones Out of love for the truth and the desire to bring it to light”— Martin Luther passionately and thoughtfully penned a list of “propositions” that his church urgently needed to discuss. His timing was perfect. The next day, All Saints Day, (the first of November), as the belfries of the Castle Church chimed in remembrance of “the poor souls in purgatory,” men in black were set to parade down the stone paved lanes of Wittenberg. While cool breezes whisked the last of fall’s radiant...

By James Plank   We are commemorating the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s extraordinary nailing of 95 theses to Wittenberg’s door and the resulting reformation. We trace our spiritual heritage directly through the reformation. This line of history clarified, among other things, what the Bible had always taught- “the just shall live by faith.” John Wesley would later have a heart warming experience while reading Luther’s preface to Romans. Again, marking our heritage with deep...

By Leonard Sankey My earliest memories of the traveling evangelists of another day are that they often traveled by train, or bus, and usually reeked of smoke as the “no smoking” movement had not yet taken effect. Then some of them began traveling their own vehicles, and some pulled trailers behind their cars or trucks. One evangelist even made a traveling home out of a semi-trailer. In the earlier years, the evangelist was most often given hospitality in the parsonage of the church they were...

by Beverly Carradine There is such a thing as the sanctified experience. There is, thank God, a sanctified life. A volume might be written, but We content ourselves with calling attention to several features of what we call the sanctified life or experience. PERHAPS THE PROMINENT FEATURE IS REST. The soul has been stilled and remains still. The spirit of Worry is gone. There is a sweet disinclination to fret. An atmosphere of calm pervades the breast and penetrates the life. It abides steadily...