We live in an increasingly fragmented world. The global map shows more countries than it did 20 years ago, and places like Iraq, Russia, and the Balkans still face smaller "break away" movements. Even within stable countries, deep political divisions abound.

Fragmentation also fills our everyday lives. We can choose from hundreds of TV channels, dozens of varieties of soft drinks and coffees, and more kinds of cell phones than you can count, all designed for diverse consumer tastes. From politics to entertainment to economics, one size doesn't fit all.

The scene is still so fresh in his mind that it might have happened 27 minutes ago instead of 27 years ago.

On a recent "Take Your Child to Work" day, my son Joshua, age 12, joined me for some hospital calls. I was amazed at how much he seemed to enjoy visiting and praying with those we met.

In the third room we visited, we prayed with the patient, and then passed his roommate to exit the room. Near the door, a woman was in obvious distress. I greeted her and wondered if I should offer to pray or talk with her and her family. She didn't maintain eye contact with me, so after I said hello, we passed her and continued down the hallway.

Special times in a person's life cause us to pause and offer a snapshot of that person in a phrase. Perhaps the most appropriate phrase to describe the life of Paul Cunningham is radical obedience. These words best characterize the way he has responded to God throughout his life journey.

Retiring General Superintendent Jim L. Bond's whole career has gifted the Church of the Nazarene with peace, diplomacy, and a commitment to Christ.

Holiness and experiencing a holy life. Those are the watchwords of the Church of the Nazarene, and General Superintendent Jim Bond has lived them out in his quest to bring everything under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.

When people enter a new country, they need help and hope through an open door. Members of Greenwood, South Carolina, Community Church of the Nazarene learned this when their community became home to immigrants from Mexico. Sensing God's direction, they opened La Puerta de Esperanza (The Door of Hope). Holiness Today talked with director Carol Gray about this compassionate ministry center.

HT: How did La Puerta de Esperanza begin?

One of the many aspects of holy living that we do not explore enough is the aspect of communal holiness. What does it mean to call the people of God a 'spiritual house, a holy priesthood, a holy nation?' Although these concepts hold many faces, I would like to explore the criteria we use to describe the church as holy, and what practices are essential to allow the church to live out of and toward holiness.

“I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3: 14). What is this calling? It is evidently to perfection of some kind. Not to perfection of heart for in the very next verse he urges "as many as be perfect to be thus minded."

I think we will find the secret of this calling in the tenth verse of the same chapter, "That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death."

Hans Deventer returning home to the Netherlands following the 2001 General Assembly in Indianapolis.

As I reflect on my first visit to a general assembly, the word that describes it is "huge." When you come from a small district of 11 churches and 1,600 Nazarenes, a general assembly is like nothing you have ever seen. The venue, the exhibit hall, the number of delegates, the number of visitors, the hotels, the organization, everything is simply "huge."