Last week, my good friend and colleague, Rev. Paul Koch, wrote an article on this site entitled, “The Church’s Failure in the Crisis. I’ve known Paul for almost 18 years, and I’m certain that his passionate desire to faithfully serve God’s people led him to write this post. But as much as I respect Paul as a man and fellow pastor, and although I’m confident of the sincere intentions behind his words, I couldn’t more passionately disagree with him.

Last week, Christians around the world celebrated the birth of Jesus. Born in a humble place, to a young maiden and a carpenter, the promised Messiah became flesh to live among us. Over 2,000 years later, the world continues to rejoice every year as the Church recalls what happened that day in the town of Bethlehem. A glorious occasion, Christmas Day is surpassed only by the events of Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

By Graham Glover

I’ve been thinking about it for almost 22 years. Sometimes it’s simply a fleeting thought. Other times it preoccupies an inordinate amount of my day. Making this jump – taking this plunge, is something I’ve considered my entire adult life. And now I’m ready. After a long journey of vacillating, I’m really going to do it. I’ve spent countless hours researching every conceivable reason why I should and even more why I shouldn’t. I’ve analyzed copious amounts of data, including primary and secondary sources, as well as scathing critiques of them all. I’ve carefully deliberated what my decision will mean, both immediately and in the long term. But it’s not just my decision. It’s a family decision, because my decision will affect them all. It’s no wonder then that my wife has been instrumental in leading me to this point. You might even say she is the one who pushed me over the top – the one who gave me the final bit of encouragement I needed.

By Graham Glover

I spend a lot of time on Capitol Hill these days. Sometimes I interact with Members of Congress, other times their Staffers. A lot of time I just watch. But no matter who I’m talking to or what I’m observing, the one thing that is blatantly obvious, even to the political outsider, is how divided the people are who make up this place. While our institutions aren’t broken, our people clearly are, and it’s not getting any better.