Series like The Wingfeather Saga bring children along for the adventure of following Jesus.I picked up the first book reluctantly. Was I really going to spend my children’s nap time reading children’s fiction? But The Wingfeather Saga had been recommended to me by so many fans that I eventually joined the throngs of Christian adults and kids who’ve enjoyed the series.From the start, author Andrew Peterson captivated my imagination, building a world I could recognize while pushing the limits of familiarity. Aerwier has a bookshop with a nerdy owner; the three Igby siblings enjoy exploring its packed shelves. So normal! But just across the street is a city prison run by lizard monsters called Fangs. Not so normal.The Wingfeather books have since been adapted into an animated series; the second season premiered at the beginning of this month, with new episodes released weekly. I remember the Christian animations from my childhood—Bibleman, Psalty the Singing Songbook, and VeggieTales —as either simplistic retellings of Bible stories or moralizing lessons. These shows did a fine job of teaching me what God expected. But they didn’t captivate me with the idea of following Jesus.The animated Wingfeather, by contrast, is lighthearted and sincere, witty without resorting to gimmicks. It cultivates endearing characters without creating familiar Christian caricatures.What makes a good Christian children’s show? Here are four things The Wingfeather Saga does well that I hope would be true of any Christian program that I watch with my kids.The show invites kids along for the adventure.One of the quickest ways to bore kids is to talk at them. Shows that offer not much more than monologues, telling children what they should think and do, will rarely capture their hearts.This principle ...Continue reading...

A veteran missiologist shares a lifetime of lessons on bringing the gospel into unfamiliar settings.In an important new book, missiologist Darrell Whiteman tells a revealing story about a missionary who had been preaching in a particular community. Without realizing it, the missionary gave offense by wearing expensive shoes in a place where people couldn’t afford shoes of any type. For Whiteman, this anecdote illustrates how much missionaries need to learn—and how many presumptions they might need to abandon—in order to bring the gospel to people in other cultures.Whiteman’s book Crossing Cultures with the Gospel: Anthropological Wisdom for Effective Christian Witness, challenges his readers—and missionaries in particular—to recognize the possible ethnocentrism in their perspective, which can distort and impede their ability to communicate well across cultural boundaries. As he explains, each culture has its own ways of understanding and coping with the problems of life. All of us understand biblical truths in ways that seem natural to us in our own cultures but not to people who have grown up in other cultures.In each community, traditions of communication and interaction develop over time, resulting in distinct customs. Every community has its own sense of the past, its own traditions of loyalty and obligation, its own rules of courtesy, and its own conceptions of virtue and honor. If missionaries are to communicate with people who have grown up in other cultures, argues Whiteman, they must lay aside their own presuppositions and cultural conventions and commit to acquiring knowledge of unfamiliar customs and ways of thought.Watching, listening, and asking questionsThe missionary project, as Whiteman reminds us, is to insert the universal message of the gospel “within the very ...Continue reading...

A veteran missiologist shares a lifetime of lessons on bringing the gospel into unfamiliar settings.

Though a strange tactic, I begin the lesson with a quote from the Apostle Paul. ” “Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them.” Romans 16:17 Clearly, this is a warning! But Peter has a whole Chapter of such admonition, […]

Sandi Patty was one of the first Christian musicians to achieve a mainstream following. Her life has taught many Christians important lessons in God's love, moving on, learning from mistakes, and grace.

A prisoner in Texas writes: I enjoy doing these lessons. They help me get to know my Lord and help me to do my time.The post From a Prisoner in Texas appeared first on Missionaries to Cyberspace.

McKellar, the star of Great American Family's A Royal Date for Christmas, used "The Bible Recap" plan in reading the Bible chronologically in a year. One of the most important lessons she learned is the importance of humility.

It was one of my favorite Jesus stories as a kid. Of course, I loved his teaching, the miracles, and the stories surrounding his death and resurrection, but when the Son of God goes into the Temple and starts flipping tables over and whipping the moneychangers, my young person brain perked up.? The story still fascinates me, but it has become more complex as I've learned more about the person of God through deep relationships in the Bible, and I've grown up a bit—a little.? To recap, in the days of Christ, the Temple had a different currency than the Roman coins. To give money to the Temple, required in some part by the Law, it must be with the Temple coin. The moneychangers set up shop in the outer court within the Temple itself to exchange the common Roman coin for Temple money. And these money changers made a profit, taking advantage of the people.? We may not have “moneychangers” in our modern churches, but we can take away important lessons from the actions of the Son of God.? Here are five things we can learn from Jesus flipping over the tables in the Temple.Photo Credit: ? Getty Images/gabrielabertolini

I give up! I think I am in a Line of Thought that is quite “over my head!” I mean the SOUL SUFFERINGS of Jesus on the Cross. Yet the Subject interests me immensely! And Jesus invited such Inquiry, I believe. Specifically, in the Garden of Gethsemane … “Then saith He unto them, My soul […]

When I decided to share a few thoughts about our Lord’s suffering on Calvary, in addition to His physical trauma and pain … I thought the Old Testament would be the “seedbed” of my thoughts. But I’m learning that the New Testament too focuses on this part of Jesus’ Cross! Here’s part of what I […]

I nearly “missed” this great Isaiah Verse! It too concerns the “soul suffering” of Jesus on the Cross. It’s the 10th Verse of Isaiah’s 53 chapter we need to notice … “Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, […]

Let me take you to Isaiah 53 today! It is one of the greatest Chapters in the Bible previewing God’s great Plan of Salvation. There, tucked away in one little Verse, we find these Words, this unfathomable Fact … “He hath poured out his soul unto death.” This is Jesus of Whom the Prophet writes. […]

Any Bible student knows that one picture of our Lord’s Ordeal on the Cross is that of a drowning man. I will give one example … “Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves. Selah.” […]

As Jesus hung on the Cross, per Psalm 22 specifically, He was confronted by many enemies. Both physical, those inflicting pain on His sinless human body … but also spiritual enemies, those torturing Him in His Spotless Soul, in His very Spirit! He depicts the latter group in four ways! Spiritual antagonists … “Deliver my […]

I am still in Psalm 22, the Bible Chapter that most clearly describes a man being crucified. Where Jesus in Verse 6 succinctly says, “But I am a worm, and no man.” Now does that sound like physical agony to you? I suggest not. (Though in no way am I minimizing Jesus’ bodily pain on […]

More data is available than I ever thought concerning Jesus’ Sufferings on Calvary. I mean in His Soul, in His Spirit! Last Lesson we focused on Psalm 22, that Mount Everest of Bible Prophecy. But I cannot get it off my mind. Verse 2 especially … “O my God, I cry in the daytime, but […]

Timothée Chalamet's update to Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka gives a cheery lesson in hard work, kindness, and the benefits of the free market.

Timothée Chalamet's update to Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka gives a cheery lesson in hard work, kindness, and the benefits of the free market.

Veteran journalist Margaret Sullivan's Newsroom Confidential: Lessons (and Worries) from an Ink-Stained Life first appeared in hardcover a year ago. It was released in paperback this month, generally the sign of a successful run and a reason for new critical attention, like...The post Journalists Won't Earn Back Trust by Claiming a Monopoly on Truth appeared first on Baptist News Global.

Among the Messianic Psalms (Bible Chapters that speak of Jesus centuries before His earthly Ministry) … none towers any higher than Psalm 22. Yet its beginning is so blatantly abrupt! Psalm 22:1 … “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of […]

For 25 years, members of Crescent Hill Baptist Church have caroled along Frankfort Avenue, the Louisville street where the church is located. The group that convenes for three or four nights each year can best be described as “The Choir...The post Lessons from caroling with The Choir that Shows Up appeared first on Baptist News Global.

I am calling our Lord’s Agony (Agonies might be a better term) His “SOUL SUFFERINGS.” We know He suffered physically, both in His Life and in His Death. But I am trying to dig deeper. Psalm 16:10, a Prime Example of what is called a “Messianic Psalm” or “Messianic Prophecy” … says of our Saviour, […]

Soul sufferings of Jesus? Yes! In Gethsemane, Jesus told His Disciples … “My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death: tarry ye here, and watch.” Mark 14:34, this sure sounds like suffering to me, Anguish untold! He did NOT say “body!” Add John 12:27 … “Now is my soul troubled,” where “tarasso” at least means “disturbed, […]

Adam Sandler's new kids' movie is an entertaining musical with an unlikely lesson in intergenerational discipleship.

Adam Sandler's new kids' movie is an entertaining musical with an unlikely lesson in intergenerational discipleship.