Since the beginning of time this world has been dealing with sin and its consequences. Adam and Eve’s fall in the garden leads to many consequences – setting us up for a lifetime of relationship struggles that was not in God’s original plan. As life plays out we watch and see disastrous things start to happen – murder, theft, idolatry, and promiscuity with sexual behavior. God leads His people: in the Exodus movement, and finally […]
Shortly before graduating from Biola University in the Spring of 2008, I took a job working as a part-time pastor at a new, predominantly Korean, inner city church plant in Los Angeles. A couple months into the job, I found myself in Buffalo, New York for our denominations’ annual conference. I still cannot forget a conversation that I had—along with two other colleagues—with a certain Army chaplain. Talk about a collision of Christian worldviews. Here […]
Imagine the vast nothingness of a formless and void universe spread out before the Triune Godhead like a blank canvas on which to create the greatest work of art in all of eternity. It would be a work of art that was visual, tactile, auditory, and alive. This work of art is known as the universe. And if we read the Bible closely, we find the universe is but the stage upon which the greatest […]
Valentine’s Day yet again brought us some spark of magic during one of the year’s dreariest months. Yet, the past few months within Evangelicalism has produced a firework of sparks surrounding the biggest and more confrontational discussion and issue facing the church in the 21st century: SEX. So, what is the trend? The last decade has initiated a trend toward more open dialogue, and even church marketing, around romantic and sexual relationships. But 2011-12 has […]
The prohibitive favorite for Best Picture at this Sunday’s 84th annual Academy Awards is Michel Hazanavicius’ black and white silent film The Artist. The film, which is nominated for a total of ten Oscars, is about a silent era movie star struggling to cope in an industry changing with the advent of “talkies.” George Valentin, the fictional main character played brilliantly by French actor Jean Dujardin, is one of Hollywood’s first stars in the early […]
This upcoming Sunday is Oscar Sunday. The 84th annual Academy Awards ceremony will announce the best efforts in the film industry from 2011. Perhaps the most coveted award, Best Picture, will be decided among 9 nominees. The only film from 2011 to be nominated that I saw was The Tree of Life (I should have been able to include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two in this list… Biggest snub of the year). The Tree of Life has also been […]
We came, we cleaned, we conquered. This weekend our small group, armed with Clorox and Windex, stormed the church, leaving no cranny unclean. For a few months now, we’ve brainstormed ways to become more engaged members of the congregation, and adding our names to the cleaning rotation seemed a good place to start. Saturday was our inaugural cleaning day. Top to bottom we mopped, vacuumed, dusted and disinfected, and by the end, the whole place […]
Jeremy Lin is the newest feel good story in sports. Lin, a point guard for the New York Knicks, is also a Christian. Is Lin the Tim Tebow of basketball? Carl Park from the Gospel Coalition shares his thoughts about Lin’s Christianity. Here is a similar post by Timothy Gombis. Additionally, here is an opinion piece by David Brooks from The New York Times. Ben Witherington offers a critique of John Piper’s recent statements that […]
In a recent staff meeting, the children’s ministries director told us that a family was “leaving our church for another place where their children could connect.” The presenting complaint was that the pre-teen and teenaged children could not understand the Sunday sermons. Therefore, they had a find a church where the preaching on Sunday suited their teen children. Being the elder who does the majority of preaching, I’ll leave the quality of my sermons and […]
I have just recently returned to St Andrews from a wild couple of weeks that included a hitch-hiking competition. Every year, the University of St Andrews Charities Campaign puts on an event called “Race 2.” The goal of the competition is to get from point A to point B as fast as you can. Only there’s one catch: you can’t spend any money. The destinations change each year and this year 83 teams of 2-3 […]
The Two Cities is a blog and podcast about theology, culture, and discipleship.
© 2024 — Highend Theme
Created with in London, UK.
Recent Comments