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Mar, 01, 2021 0
The phrase “On the Brink of Everything” is taken from a recently published book by Parker Palmer.1 Dr. Palmer is a renowned educator, writer, and thinker. He turned 80 not long ago, and in his book, he looks back across the landscape of his life. In fact, the subtitle of the book is “Grace, Gravity…
Mar, 01, 2021 0
Our spiritual life is a journey: a journey of grace. It begins when we hear God’s call to come and follow Him, to put our faith in Jesus Christ. This was true in the life of Simon Peter. One day, he was cleaning his fishing nets with his brother, Andrew. Jesus looked at them and invited them to…
Mar, 01, 2021 0
As I began serving as the global director of Sunday School and Discipleship Ministries International (SDMI) in August 2018, many people asked me, “When you speak about discipleship, what do you mean by ‘discipleship’? Do you mean ‘Sunday School’? Do you mean small groups? Or do you mean ‘one-on-one…
Mar, 01, 2021 0
The topic of discipleship immediately brings my childhood to mind. I was fortunate to be discipled by my parents. My parents’ lives modeled incarnational discipleship. The activities of the week and the family conversations around the table pointed each of us toward Christ. If there was a formal…
Feb, 19, 2021 0
I grew up poor in North Carolina. My mom married my dad when she was 16; I was born a year and a half later. We moved around a lot, often living in places with no air conditioning or phone service. My parents were both addicts. My mom was a blackout alcoholic, and my dad’s drug choice was heroin.…
Feb, 11, 2021 0
My great grandfather was a sharecropper in Southeastern Alabama, near the Georgia state line. He rented a small piece of land to work, and in return, he would give a portion of his crop to the landowner at the end of each year. My great grandfather decided he wanted a better life for his family…
Feb, 10, 2021 0
I am a preacher’s daughter and a preacher’s wife in the Church of the Nazarene, but there was a time in my life when I wasn’t always faithful in my walk with the Lord. During that time, I blamed others for my walking away. I first blamed those I called the hypocrites of the church and then blamed…
Feb, 10, 2021 0
I am the third of four children. My eldest sister is Hannah, then comes Mary, and after me is my brother Elijah. My dad was a pastor, an apologist, and a stand-up comedian. My mother grew up in a pastor’s home; my grandparents, Bill and Joan Sessoms, were in ministry together for over 50 years in…
Feb, 10, 2021 0
Growing up as a pastor’s daughter, I always had a knowledge of God—I accepted Christ at age seven during vacation Bible school and renewed my faith in Him when I was 18—but it wasn’t until later in life that I surrendered fully to Him. During the early years of our marriage, my husband and I hosted…
Feb, 10, 2021 0
Forty years after the Church of the Nazarene came to my hometown of Greeneville, Tennessee, a holiness preacher came to the hospital and prayed over my parents’ firstborn. The church had given my teenage parents a baby shower, and despite my parents’ resistance toward salvation, the church did not…