Ann Cubie Rearick and Mary Rearick Paul, mother and daughter, were both raised in ministry homes and are both still in ministry. Here, these women express their perspectives regarding the experience of growing up in a holiness environment.

Ann Cubie Rearick:

"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14, KJV)."

Desperation is not often a good thing.

For instance, we should never fill a position in the church or even in a corporate setting out of sheer desperation. This can lead to a short-term fix that causes great disruption in the long run. Desperation can give way to a fear-based approach that sets a dire tone for the direction of an organization.

However, there is a kind of desperation that is positive and can lead to a sharp focus and a tenacity that seeks to quench spiritual hunger and thirst regardless of the cost.

“Institutions are the lengthened shadows of great men and women” (adapted from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance). Bertha Munro (1884-1974) was the great woman who cast just such a shadow and Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts was, and is, the institution. She was a Christian higher education administrator, writer, speaker, and lay theologian, as well as a beloved professor, a dominant academic voice, and a driving force in the liberal arts tradition.

Q: Is there a "Christian" way to think about, and use, power and authority?

On Sunday, April 13, 2008, the Peniel Church of the Nazarene in Greenville, Texas, celebrated its 100th anniversary. This church was organized in April 1908, six months before the merger in Pilot Point, Texas, which marked the beginning of the Church of the Nazarene 100 years ago. The Peniel church has averaged less than 100 in attendance throughout its history.

"If I really connect, I bet I could hit the ball into the ocean."

When I was a child, many things frightened me: junkyard dogs, lurking shadows in my bedroom at night, and most of all, big bullies. Those threatening guys at Walthall Elementary School, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, stalked me and made my life miserable. Evidently my experience is not isolated.

Seven years ago*, God dragged John Mohan "kicking and screaming" into a new career.

Mohan, an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene, went from being a self-described "typical white suburban pastor, with little awareness of homelessness," to chief executive officer (CEO) of Siloam Mission, an urban Nazarene Compassionate Ministry Center in Winnipeg, Manitoba, arguably the coldest capital city in the world.

Call and consecration are two powerful aspects of holiness and they relate to our status in relation to God. Through God's call and our consecration to God, we have been drawn into a special relation—we are God's possession and are dedicated to God's exclusive service.

We have been spiritually transferred from the fallen world into God's presence. Through the Holy Spirit, we have been introduced into the fellowship between the Father and the Son.

Nearly every morning, Annie (my Golden Retriever) and I go for a walk. I’m fairly certain that our walks are different than some: ours is an adventure in discovery. We stop at every telephone pole and every pillar. Every blowing leaf has to be examined and trash is a gold mine just waiting to be pounced upon (she is still a pup after all). While I walk in straight lines, she is a constant back and forth zig-zag. But, she is growing up.