What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

What The Bible Says Good Samaritan's Penny Pulpit by Pastor Ed Rice

"And Jesus answered and said, while he taught in the temple, How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The ...

Two new memoirs, Troubled and Between Two Trailers, make a powerful—if unintentional—case for the Christian ethos of family and community.Growing up, our car radio was always tuned to 90.7, American Family Radio. We lived about 15 minutes from the nearest town, so we spent a lot of time driving. If we were lucky, Mr. Whittaker’s warm, grandfatherly voice invited us to join him for Adventures in Odyssey. But more often, we’d listen to alarmed (and alarming) talks from Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, or Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, each warning my parents of all the ways the world was coming for us.Their message was convincing, and not only for my parents. I’d plug my ears when Ms. Barbie, my warm-hearted school bus driver who wore denim cutoffs and had brightly lacquered nails, sometimes tuned her portable radio to 96.9 KISS FM, “Amarillo’s #1 Hit Music Station,” and started singing along to secular music on the 45-minute ride to school. I felt palpable relief when I instead climbed aboard to the sound of Garth Brooks crooning about his friends in low places. After all, everyone in Texas knows God has a soft spot for country.One of the strangest things about being raised in that embattled mindset was how my side seemed embarrassed of what we had to offer the wider world. We said we knew the truth about God and humanity, but I got the distinct impression that we were far from confident that the truth could hold its own out there.My elders and the voices they heeded on the radio seemed to take a defensive posture, self-conscious about our intractable fuddy-duddy-ness and anxious that these commitments would cost us. It felt like they weren’t sure we could ever compete on a level field. We had God on our side, but they had MTV. Our only option was to circle ...Continue reading...

Dem Claims Men 'Don't Compete in Women's Sports' as Stolen Titles Near 300...

A new film, “The Shift,” is an entertaining, thoughtful, and cinematically competent retelling of Job.

A new film, “The Shift,” is an entertaining, thoughtful, and cinematically competent retelling of Job.

This is not a call to trust our leaders. It's a call for leaders to be more trustworthy.The most important aspect of leadership is not competence, communication or innovation.It’s integrity.When we can’t trust our leaders, life can turn really bad, really fast. Even deadly.We’re seeing it in real time right now. The current COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis will be made better by our ability to trust those in leadership or made worse by our lack of ability to trust them.Let’s pray that the weight of it will lean heavily toward trust and trustworthiness.A Call To TrustworthinessThis is not about any specific political or church leader. Right now, there’s plenty of distrust – and good reasons for it – on all sides.This is also not a call to trust our leaders. It’s a call for leaders to be more trustworthy.When they’re not (when we’re not) people die.In other times, when life is moving along relatively normally, untrustworthy leadership is a cause for debate, ridicule, even mockery. But when things go bad, lack of trust in leadership gets people killed.Earned DistrustIn the current crisis, for instance, there were many people, early on, who doubted the necessity of self-quarantine – and some who still do. Why? Often because they doubted the truthfulness of the people giving them this information.From politicians, to medical, religious and educational leaders, everyone has earned some degree of distrust from us.And I do mean earned. Distrust is not primarily the fault of the followers, but of the leaders who have given us plenty of reasons not to trust them.How To Regain TrustIf you are in a position of leadership, now more than ever we need to be able to trust you. And there’s only one way to do that.Be trustworthy.Do the right thing.Every time.Continue reading...