Commentaries

I used to believe that reaching the world was fairly straightforward. Win people to Christ. Disciple them. Send them out. Plant churches. Then I started reading sociology.

Attending a rave changed Tony Hsieh’s life. The Zappos CEO says it started him on the path to creating a new kind of business. What did Hsieh experience at that rave?

“Institutions don’t have a good reputation among evangelicals,” writes Uli Chi. “We tend to focus on the merely personal.” That’s largely why we’re not viewed as legit.

When we talk about a worldview or concept, we’re assuming that human beings think with their brains. But what if we think more with our whole body?

In a post-Christian nation, Rod Dreher believes The Benedictine Option is the best way forward. I like much of what he says but The Babylonian Option might be better.

By 2050, reckons the Pew Center, one of every three Christians in the world will be African. Many of these Africans are coming to faith in ways similar to what we read of in this first African convert in Acts. His experience is “the old normal.”

Why do babies so easily learn to swipe an iPhone? They’re not simply mimicking us. Tertullian would say they’re pointing us back to the hinge of salvation.

A reporter once asked German theologian Dorothee Sölle, “How would you explain happiness to a child?” “I wouldn’t explain it,” she answered. “I’d toss him a ball and let him play.” In 100 years we’ll know why Sölle was right.

Why does Africa import $50 billion worth of food that it could grow itself? Jon Vandenheuvel can give you the answer in one word.

Thirty-five years ago Kathy and I stood at the altar and said: “I do.” We’ve been making good on that marriage promise ever since. That’s the central picture for generosity.