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We live in an amazing age of data collection. My computer stores information about every word I type, every topic I research, and every purchase I make online. My cell phone records every call along with every text from every location in the world. All of this data forms my digital footprint.…

The real Jesus must always be the central focus of our faith. While we all may affirm this with a resounding, “yes,” our actions and reactions may not reflect this in reality. The mission statement of the Church of the Nazarene is “To Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations.” It is Christ who…

During my 22 years of pastoring a great church in a community with diverse needs, I have seen much. I have experienced great and exciting celebrations, and I have also experienced some difficult and challenging times. Ministering to those who are battling a tough season of life is not easy. One…

Churches of the Nazarene tend to be larger when there are additional Churches of the Nazarene nearby. In all community sizes, churches with at least one other church within five miles targeting the same cultural group tend to be larger than churches without such near neighbors. Virtually all…

Recently, Holiness Today sat down with Gary Hartke, the newly elected General Secretary for the Church of the Nazarene. Hartke has served as the director of Nazarene Youth International (NYI) since 2000 and previously served as an associate pastor in churches in Ohio, Maine, and Illinois. Hartke…

During my first year of seminary, I was introduced to the love feast. Initially, I thought the combination of the words love and feast was my professor’s clever way of referring to the Lord’s Supper. Little did I know the love feast and holy communion, while both being communal feasts of the church…

Over ten million tourists visited the city of Florence, Italy, in 2017, solidifying its status as one of the most popular travel destinations. Visitors covet tickets to the Galleria degli Uffizi to view works by Botticelli and Leonardo, the Galleria dell’Accademia to wonder at Michelangelo’s…

I was in high school the first time I noticed an ashen cross on someone’s forehead. One evening, I had arranged to meet a friend, and I arrived at his house just as his family was returning from an Ash Wednesday service. After greeting one another, I noticed the dark smudge on his face. I wondered…

Epiphany . . . January 6 . . . twelfth night . . . the wise men. Epiphany has special meaning when we think of this day in the church calendar as a time of special manifestation of the Christ, not only to the wise men, but also to us. A special symbol of that manifestation is the star: “When they…

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest, Sun moon and stars in their courses above, Join with all nature in manifold witness, To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. (Thomas Chisholm) Here in these lines from the gospel hymn Great is Thy Faithfulness, the four seasons, the cosmos, and…