Featured in this issue: Stan & Jan Berenstain, Jimmy Carter, Brian Hardin, Ron Hutchcraft, Bill Hybels, John MacArthur, N.T. Wright, Andrea Palpant Dilley, John Piper, and Rick Warren.
-
Profiles in Courage, the Jimmy Carter Edition
« I’m fairly sure that Jimmy Carter is the bravest man I know. I’m absolutely sure that he’s the bravest politician. … Like all presidents, Carter sometimes compromised, sometimes made tactical retreats, sometimes horse-traded. But when the chips were down, he did what was right for the country’s future, regardless of the consequences for himself.… » -
N.T. Wright asks: Have we gotten heaven all wrong?
« Scholars on the right and left increasingly say that comforting belief in an afterlife has no basis in the Bible and would have sounded bizarre to Jesus and his early followers. Like modern curators patiently restoring an ancient fresco, scholars have plumbed the New Testament’s Jewish roots to challenge the pervasive cultural belief in an otherworldly paradise.… The most recent expert to add his voice to this chorus is the prolific Christian apologist N.T. Wright…… »See Also:
• Life after life after death via Christian Century
• N.T. Wright Asks: Have Christians Gotten Heaven All Wrong? via The Huffington Post
• Conventional view of heaven doubted via St. Louis Today -
The key to fruitful leadership? Integrity, humility and generosity
« Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, the fastest-selling book after the Bible, spoke to delegates on Tuesday. He said, “In 1,000 years’ time, there will be no USA, no UK, no Microsoft, no Apple, but there will be a church. If you want to be successful in leadership you must build your life around integrity, humility and generosity. Leadership is like fruit. The best fruit grows in the shade – it ripens slowly.”… » -
Successor to John Piper Overwhelmingly Approved by Bethlehem Baptist Church
« Influential pastor John Piper made his joyful reaction clear via the Web shortly after getting word that his congregation had overwhelmingly agreed with church elders on their choice of Jason Meyer as his successor. • “God came down and kissed Bethlehem tonight. 784 Yes. 8 No. Jason Meyer has been approved to take hold of this baton,” Piper tweeted on Sunday after the vote taken at Bethlehem Baptist Church located in the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota. • Meyer will fall under Piper’s pastoral mentorship and an “overlap” period between the two beginning Aug. 1.… » -
John MacArthur on Divorce: We Can’t Edit God
« “We have one responsibility as pastors and that is to teach the word of God. We don’t have an alternative. We can’t edit God. That’s the wrong thing to do,” said MacArthur during a recent broadcast on Focus on the Family Daily. • “We have been called into this ministry for the purpose of disseminating to our generation the truth of the word of God. We have no other message. I have no other message than what God has put in the word.”… » -
Working toward synergy
« The [Leadership] summit began when Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago, saw that his father’s business leadership wasn’t connected to or utilized by his church life. That led to a broader goal. • “He saw how the leadership in the community and the leadership in the church weren’t connected,” said Saint James United Methodist Church pastor Allen Newton. “If you can raise the leadership in the church, you change the community. If you can change the community, you change the world.… » -
How to Smartly Engage with the Young Doubters in Your Midst
« In high school, I entered a skeptic phase that eventually led me out of the doors of the church. My parents saw it coming. My dad started taking me out to breakfast at a local diner, the kind of spot cops go to after the night shift. We ordered omelets in a corner booth and, in between bites of egg and onion, started talking about God, faith, and philosophy. I wanted to know: Why does God wage war in the Old Testament? Why does God seem distant and inaccessible? And why would a good God allow suffering? … My mother didn’t know it at the time, but I had become a statistic. … » -
Wind Farm Cafe makes classroom for Rwandan kids
« Wind Farm Café in Spring Hill is handing out free coffee from 7 to 10 a.m. daily, no strings attached. • At the same time, the Daily Audio Bible-owned coffee house is working on a project to offer hope to children in Rwanda. • This week a 40-foot cargo container will arrive in the Wind Farm Café parking lot. Within 30 days, the container will be transformed into a state-of-the-art classroom and then shipped to Butare, Rwanda.… » -
The Berenstain Bears Live! In Family Matters, the Musical / Theater Listings for May 18-24
« The most famous bears since the three in the Goldilocks story are onstage in this adaptation of three of the titles in the long-running children’s book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The show, by Michael Borton and Michael Slade, offers a pleasant hour for small theatergoers, with a pop-flavored score and actors who inhabit their fuzzy roles enthusiastically.… » -
Prayer vital as team reaches most at-risk Native young people
« This summer will mark the twentieth year of ministry for Ron Hutchcraft Ministries Native American outreach On Eagles’ Wings. It also may well be the most difficult year. • “The reservations that God has led us to this summer–working in partnership with people who are there day after day and are trying to find a way to break through to the young people there–comprises one of the most challenging itineraries that we have had in many years,” says evangelist and ministry founder Ron Hutchcraft.… »
Note: This is a collection of recent stories and news items mentioning authors who have published with Zondervan. This list is not comprehensive, it is not always ‘positive,’ and the order of the stories is arbitrary. The views and opinions expressed in this content do not necessarily reflect the positions or opinions of Zondervan, its authors, agents, employees, or leadership.