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Telling the Story: The cords of death
BY DAWN REED It was a scene I won’t soon forget. Last Friday evening was our Vacation Bible School pool party. Two-year-old Ryder* was in the kiddie swimming pool. I was standing with his mom at the edge. She never took her eyes off her boy. “Are you having a good time?” I had just
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Telling the Story: Pondering VBS
BY DAWN REED A sip of strawberry Kool-Aid can take me back in time faster than the DeLorean in the Back to the Future movie. One taste puts me right on the creek bank behind First Baptist Church of Belfry during Vacation Bible School in the 1970s. Back then, we lined up outside the church
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The Pastor’s Pen: The Struggle of Honest Doubt
BY JACK WARD I heard a pastor tell a story about a miracle that happened in the life of a 15-year-old girl during a weekend retreat. Quiet, reserved, shy, brilliant and troubled. That’s how he described her. All weekend her hollow, lifeless eyes searched for answers to gnawing questions that had eroded her life and
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Notes from Calvary: Your Words are a Weapon Part 2
BY GREG CRUM “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood
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The Pastor’s Pen
Balancing the Books BY JACK WARD When Jesus was tortured, it was the torture that should have been ours. On a very small scale, we all understand this principle. Imagine a young boy buying a small piece of candy at the store counter. The clerk rings it up, and it comes to 20 cents. He
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Notes from Calvary
Your Words are a Weapon BY GREG CRUM “Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.” Proverbs 18:21 The last couple of weeks, we have written of how there is more than meets the eye to this world. We’ve reminded ourselves that it’s
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Telling the Story: Generous Like Jay
Generous like Jay BY DAWN REED We met Jay last summer. He was vacationing with his family, and we struck up a conversation. Like Jay and his people, we stay at the same place every summer. This year, we saw them almost the first day of vacation. Jay is a crusty guy with a northern
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The Pastor’s Pen: Into the Flames
BY JACK WARD Can you imagine what it was like for the church in Smyrna as they watched their beloved and aged pastor burn at the stake? Polycarp was his name. He was a disciple of Jesus’ disciple, the Apostle John. One could tell it immediately because he possessed the same tenderness and compassion as
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Notes from Calvary: ‘More Than Meets the Eye’ Part 2
BY GREG CRUM “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all,
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Telling the Story: Reasons to Smile
BY DAWN REED Years ago, in a small town in Poland, we quickly learned that people there did not smile and greet one another. Each morning and evening, our mission team made the trek by foot to the church where we were having Vacation Bible School. Excited to be there, excited to be helping, we
