Articles

Brian Smith

| March 2016

The Catholic Church

Does Israel need to hear the gospel, or has God already saved them under a different covenant? The Catholic church (and even some Protestants) believes the latter. What do the Scriptures say?

Melissa Church

| March 2016

Blinds for the Un-seeing

While I’ve been on this brief hiatus I’ve been busy learning and listening and contemplating, and just trying to hear something besides my own voice for a while. It’s been good, I think, though less than profound. Normal is part of the Christian life as well as mountaintops and valleys low. Doing life is sometimes where the best work is done.

Stephen Armstrong

| August 2015

Staying the Course

Dramatic events in our culture call for dramatic responses...or do they?

Stephen Armstrong

| May 2015

The Accidental Witness

Every Christian is called to be witness for Christ, but if we reserve our witnessing for the "official" moments, then we're missing the best opportunities to spread the Gospel.

Melissa Church

| April 2015

Be Quiet and Be Quiet

This is one of those posts I have debated for days. To write or not to write, that has been the question. I’ve sung this song before, first verse, second verse, and chorus. But it’s an issue that continues to perplex me, and because the song is on a continuous loop in my head, it’s one that I’m sure I’m not seeing clearly. You let me know.

Melissa Church

| March 2015

A Very Touchy Subject

This topic is something I live with. It is next door to me. It is in my son’s school. It is in my grocery store, my help-wanted ads, my doctor’s office, my home. It is the life-breath of my small community. It is not some far-flung problem for someone “else”. It is not something I’ve made judgments about from a distance. It is an on-going conversation in my soul about people – real people – that I live with every day. It’s personal.

Stephen Armstrong

| December 2014

Be a Shepherd this Christmas

Open your Bible and begin reading...anywhere. Very soon you will encounter mention of shepherds or sheep. The Bible incorporates references to shepherds caring for sheep perhaps more than any other metaphor or picture of our relationship with the Lord.

Brian Smith

| December 2014

On Infanticide

It's no surprise that abortion is widely accepted in America, to our shame. But now, many college students are being taught that it's not only okay to murder a baby in the womb, it's also okay to murder them outside the womb, even up to age 5. This is infanticide, and it's being accepted by many college students today.

Stephen Armstrong

| September 2014

How do we measure success at VBVMI?

How does an Internet ministry measure success? As the director of Verse By Verse Ministry International, I ask this question everyday. Ministries often consult varies financial and operational measures, but we prefer a better, biblical measure...

Brady Stephenson

| August 2014

That

A friend of mine recently shared an astounding fact. Ninety percent of children who grow up in evangelical homes make a decision to follow Christ, yet only 22% of that group are still following Christ by age 35. I had to check this out...

Stephen Armstrong

| February 2014

Making All Things New

Can a message of God's power coexist in harmony with testimonies to human achievement? Some might argue that the medium is the message, and so when the BIble is dressed up in modern technology, we're in danger of substituting style for substance.

Stephen Armstrong

| February 2014

Outsourcing Sanctification

When churches hire staff to perform even the most basic duties of the church, they eliminate the need for church members to lift a finger in the operations of the church. As that church grows, more and more of the basic operations of the church will be outsourced rather than placed on the shoulders of the congregation. Not only has the church outsourced the work, it has also outsourced the opportunity for sanctification within the body of believers.