4 Crucial Steps to Being an Emotionally Healthy Christian

We had received so many prophetic words in the years leading up to Bethel Music, words that should have prepared me for the growing pains of being a young leader in a powerful environment. But I didn't realize that when you're creating some­thing new, there's going to be some resistance, and people aren't always going to catch the vision of going to places we've never been.

I thought things were supposed to happen a certain way, and when they didn't, I became im­patient. I didn't let those prophetic words give me the patience I needed. We were devoting more time to the label, balancing our responsibili­ties at Bethel Church with requests to travel and lead worship, and preparing for our annual worship school.

We needed a break from the weight of it all.

Jenn and I decided to go have dinner with friends at a cabin up in the moun­tains. We were between Redding and the mountains when the text messages started flooding in. Some of the key artists and musicians from our team who were scheduled to help with the worship school had been booked by other church ministries.

All of a sudden, there I was in the same conversation I'd had so many times before. The frustration set in, and immediately I was livid.

Dinners, deliveries and drives: how some Catholics serve up Thanksgiving for the poor

As many gather for Thanksgiving each year around tables filled with food and family, the National Council of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul sets out to make sure that the poor and homeless will also experience a holiday filled with community.

“Society members work with people in poverty and the homeless 365 days a year. Our parish-based Conferences operate food pantries, dining facilities, and shelters year-round to help people in need with food and shelter,” said Dave Barringer, the National CEO of the U.S. Society of St. Vincent de Paul.

Is the Magic in 'Frozen II' Safe for Your Children?

With Frozen II likely to take over the box office this weekend, families across the U.S. may be wondering whether Disney's animated sequel is safe for their kids. After all, both the original movie and the sequel heavily feature and discuss magic. Despite this, Movieguide®'s Dr. Ted Baehr believes this film is appropriate for any children "4 and up."

In a video review of Frozen II, Baehr explains, "This is really an acceptable movie. The way you deal with the enchanted forest and some of the magic—now the magical thinking gets superseded by the end of the movie by the Christian redemptive content. The good triumphs over all the bad. But you may want to talk to your children first."

Faith May Be the Exact Key to Living Longer, Research Shows

If you are in Los Angeles and hop on the 10 Freeway heading east for about 69 miles, you will eventually come to a town of 23,000 people, called Loma Linda—Spanish for Beautiful Hill. If you get off at Anderson Street, you will immediately notice two things. One, the sprawling university medical center with the same name as the town. Their mission: "continuing the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ." The other is the prevailing presence of the Seventh Day Adventists. It is the largest community of those practicing this Protestant-based religion in the country; about 7,000 attend the university's campus church.

Candidly, despite its pretty Spanish name, unless you need to get gas, you will likely keep heading down the road. At first glance, there is nothing particularly remarkable about Loma Linda, California. However, if you know anything about the area, you will know that this is the only place, within our U.S. borders, where people live, on average, about a decade longer than the rest of us, many hitting 100 years of age.

How to memorize Scripture

I had the privilege of living in the Holy Land for four years where I earned two master’s degrees at Jerusalem University College. During my stay I was able to do some really amazing things like meeting my wife Sarah, walking around the Sea of Galilee, living with the tent dwelling seminomadic Bedouins in the desert, and being part of evangelism teams throughout all of Israel. But the most impactful experience I took away was being able to rub shoulders with Jews and Christians who are really serious about memorizing Scripture and gleaning from them the three main techniques of how they and those who went before them went about memorizing.

Memorizing is hard, especially for us in the west who live in a copy, paste, Facebook, Tweet, file and forget world. It might be hard for you to conceive of 8-year-old children that had all 150 Psalms memorized! But memorizing the Word of God is so important to our spiritual life and it is achievable with discipline, prayer, and hard work.

Are children a curse or a gift?

A recent open letter from the Alliance of World Scientists began this way: “We declare, with more than 11,000 scientist signatories from around the world…that planet Earth is facing a climate emergency.”

The letter is filled with urgent language and what the authors consider irrefutable proof that human beings are destroying the planet.

And, they offer their prescription. In addition to emissions reductions, renewable energy, and carbon taxes, the authors think it’s time to say “no” to children.

Alasdair MacIntyre: True friendships are rare, but possible

For Aristotle, the definition of perfect friendship was so narrow that precious few could achieve it.

In order to have a perfect friendship between two people, Aristotle said that both must be models of goodness and virtue, willing the good of the other and loving each other for their own sake.

He also thought these levels of virtue and goodness could only be achieved by a narrow slice of the population: namely, the Greek male elite. Women, non-Greeks, productive workers, and slaves were, in Aristotle’s mind, unable to achieve the levels of virtue and goodness necessary for such friendships.

'Wake-up call': Anglican Church of Canada may cease to exist by 2040, says report

The Anglican Church of Canada will run out of members by the year 2040 if its current rate of decline continues, according to a recently released report.

The Rev. Canon Neil Elliot gave a presentation last Saturday at the ACC Council of General Synod on the statistics for the members of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

This white supremacist renounced his ideology after someone showed kindness

One of the most fascinating outcomes of the recent controversy surrounding Ellen DeGeneres and President George W. Bush (you can read our take ​here​) is a discussion about the “limits” of kindness. ​In an ​article​ for Vanity Fair, cultural critic Laura Bradley argues that there are instances where “unconditional kindness” may not be appropriate, especially when “one person has historically believed other people should not have the same basic rights as another.” Actor Mark Ruffalo put it this way, tweeting: “Sorry, until George W. Bush is brought to justice for the crimes of the Iraq War, (including American-lead torture, Iraqi deaths & displacement and the deep scars—emotional & otherwise—inflicted on our military that served his folly), we can’t even begin to talk about kindness.”

One big question, then, simmering beneath all of this, is this: should kindness have limits?

Cardinal O’Malley to US bishops: Ask for grace at St. Peter’s tomb

In St. Peter’s Basilica Thursday, Cardinal Sean O’Malley asked American bishops to pray for the grace to make a profession of faith, hope, and love at the tomb of St. Peter before meeting with Pope Francis.

Cardinal O’Malley, the archbishop of Boston, and the other bishops from New England are in Rome for an ad limina apostolorum visit — a pilgrimage to “the threshold of the apostles” — in which they are meeting the pope and curial officials to discuss the state of their dioceses.

In his homily in the crypt of the basilica, O’Malley touched upon some of the problems currently affecting American Catholics.