This time of year is a time of both anticipation and reflection—anticipation for the New Year, and reflection on everything God has done in the past year. 2018 has definitely introduced a lot of changes for the four of us! In this last year, Caleb was called to be the Senior Pastor of Faith Baptist Church in Palm Bay, FL; Ben and his wife, Brittany, are anticipating the birth of their first child while he serves as the young adults pastor at Colonial Hills Baptist Church; Mike continues serving at Calvary Bible Church in Columbus, OH while adding on a couple seminary courses to his already busy load; and I (Aaron) jumped into leading the young adults group at Inter-City Baptist Church in Allen Park, MI and my wife and I will be closing out 2018 by becoming a family of 4!
So, if our articles have been a little infrequent and sporadic, that's why 🙂. But, despite the craziness, we have enjoyed continuing this blog as a way to develop our own writing abilities, stay connected with each other, and hopefully bring encouragement to others in the process. It is our burden and prayer that this blog is not used to air our own opinions or needlessly ruffle feathers (there is no shortage of that on the internet already). Although we are not always consistent in this, it is our priority to ground everything we write in Scriptural authority. The articles we write are simply the fruit of what God is teaching us, and God teaches us through his revealed word. During this time of reflection, we look back on the 10 Most Read Articles in 2018 and we anticipate what God will teach us in the years to come.
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A troubling reality that the church faces today is the alarming number of young adults who forsake the faith, despite their Christian upbringing. If you were raised in church or attended a Christian school, I’m sure you can think of some examples (I know I can). We could spend a lot of time considering all the contributing factors for this troubling trend, but I want to focus on one factor specifically: the way we describe the world to our youth.
Christians have idols that we love to hate, at least superficially, like materialism or pride. For some reason these are the idols that are the ones that typically get the “amens” and “that’ll preach” comments when the pastor serves up a message about them. But for some reason, there are certain idols that we just love to love. Were the pastor to preach on an inordinate love of conservative politics, or the American dream, or the nuclear family I’d venture a guess that we wouldn’t hear as many “amens” during that sermon. Yet, even the good and well-intentioned things that we do as Christ-followers can become idols if we allow them become so prominent that Christ loses His preeminence in our lives.
Whether it’s your overwhelming responsibilities, family pressures, or uncertainty about your future, desperate moments leave you feeling hopeless and helpless—drowning in a sea of anxiety. All you want to do is escape, and you’re on the verge of doing something crazy to get out.
Dear Christian Teen,
I’m sure you made some incredible memories at Christian Camp this summer. Good friends, good fun, and new experiences are all part of what camp so memorable! But there’s two things about summer camp that typically don’t last: camp romances and camp ‘decisions.’ Now that your starting up school again, chances are that girl/boy you met at camp has probably moved on, and that life-changing spiritual decision you made after the Thursday evening chapel service has moved along as well. Now you’re back in “normal life,” surrounded by your normal friends and your normal habits. |
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