The end of COVID prompted Jack Levison to think more deeply about the Spirit-filled life. The result is his latest book, a small volume accessible to laity and clergy alike: Seven Secrets of the Spirit-filled Life. As the pandemic slowed,…
How to celebrate Pentecost without balloons, plastic doves or salsa
A few years ago, on Pentecost Sunday, I noticed red and orange balloons streaming upward from the church altar. The service bulletin explained these were meant to symbolize the infamous tongues of fire at the first Pentecost. After the service…
This Christmas, the Holy Spirit sounds like an oxygen machine to me
Don’t let my name fool you. One of my most redeeming qualities is being a realist, often named by others as pessimist. In the spirit of that title, or misplaced naming, I am unsure how I will stomach Christmas this…
Dear Max Lucado, I speak in tongues too
Dear Max Lucado, I speak in tongues too. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I was a college student at Liberty University. As I sat confused, not knowing what to do, I began praying that April day and…
The Holy Spirit: An advocate, comforter and encourager for times like these
The Holy Spirit can be the most underrated and misunderstood persona with the Divine Presence. Popular author Frances Chan suggests, “There is a big gap between what we read in Scripture about the Holy Spirit and how most believers and…
Beauty out of ashes: Something’s stirring in the rubble of Lebanon
You think America has problems? Spend a week or two in Lebanon, and you’ll get a taste of what real — as in existential — problems are. Even Scrooge would sympathize. Imagine scrounging barely enough food to eat once, maybe…
Row with the dual oars of God’s word and the wind of the Spirit, pastors proclaim as CBF assembly opens
The Spirit of God is blowing, and Christians can either follow that wind or be left in the past, a team of preachers said in a fast-paced dual-language sermon that opened the 2021 virtual General Assembly of the Cooperative Baptist…
What we can learn about the Holy Spirit from Jesus and the Gospels
Numbers are hardly inspiring, but they are indicative. A batting average of .350 is far more impressive than a batting average of .225. A shooting percentage in basketball of 50%, rather than 30%, can be the difference between advancing to…
The time is now: Born-again Christians need to make some babies
The Holy Spirit is conceiving new life and needs a partner. The Church, the body of Christ, is called to be born again and again and again. May we be a body in the infancy of innovative growth, a body vulnerable and yet powerful as the Church enters an unknown future full of new possibilities.