For those of us who love Africa, here are 30 quick visual tours

Ray and Jill Davis visit a village in South Sudan

Some great photos by an awesome communications team puts many parts of Africa in your hands within seconds.

30 Instant Trips to Africa

 

Will these 14 predictions for American Churches come true?

Thom Rainer has stuck his neck out - way out, and on the basis of his research, and that of others, is predicting several trends in American churches.

See how many of these you agree with and how many you disagree with. If you want the whole article, click here

1. Larger churches will acquire smaller ones as the cost of keeping small churches going meets the ceiling of giving in older congregations.
2. Denominational structures will become smaller as declining giving comes from shrinking churches.
3. Many new members will be transferring in from other churches, not coming from evangelism.
4. The trend will be towards more mega-churches.
5. Worship styles will become more, not less, unified.
6. High-expectation churches, where members are asked to make significant contributions to the work of the congregation, will become more numerous.
7.. It will become more difficult for churches to build and acquire land.
8. More large churches will function as mini-denominations, with multiple locations and their own missions programs and literature.
9. Worship centers will be smaller, as people seek greater intimacy in church life.
10. Small groups will become more significant.
11. Pastors will stay at their churches longer.
12. Local churches will increase their role in training ministers.
13. Church members will find new ways to take their faith to their community
14. Churches will have more communicators on their staffs.

Paul in Cenchrea and Nicoplis - 35 photos

This canal links the Aegean Sea with the city of Corinth

An amazing story emerges from a remote place...the port city of Cenchrea. Paul's visit to Nicopolis was also historic, another little known part of his travels.

Cenchrea is rarely visited, but it was important in the scriptures. Paul mentions Phoebe in Romans 16:1, the first person's name in that long list of "fellow servants". 

Phoebe was a remarkable woman, serving the Lord through hospitality in amazing ways.

Reading about Phoebe reminds me of some of our Turkish students and their trip through Greece. One memorable comment sticks in my mind: "I was brought up by my grandmother to hate the Greek people. Everything about them was despicable. However, we went to Greece on a tour, following the footsteps of Paul. In every place, for two weeks, we stayed with Christians. They washed our clothes, gave us meals, gave up their beds so we could sleep well and even provided tour guides in the historical locations like Philippi. I came back home completely rebuked. I had been taught to hate, but their hospitality taught me to love. I came back with love in my heart for the Greek people."

That, dear friends, is how early Christians overcame the "unstoppable opposition from the Greco-Roman world" in the First Century. Love, warm hospitality and kind gestures - this isn't a program, or something fake. Phoebe was that kind of person in Cenchrea.
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A blind/autistic boy and the Kingdom of God - What do you teach someone like this?

This may have been the kind of bush that Moses saw burning

This video shows what an autistic and blind boy can do.

It should give us hope for those in our neighborhoods who have difficulties, and encourage care givers, too. 

Remember Moses at the burning bush? (The photo shows a bush in the dessert where he may have walked.)

Moses exclaimed, "Lord, I'm a person with stumbling, mumbling lips. I can't speak to the Pharaoh! I can't fulfill to let your people go!" (i.e. "How can I possibly be successful?)

And what did the Lord Almighty say ? "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight of makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD! Now, go! I will help you speak and will teach you what to say."

A prayer: "God, let me remember Christopher singing at the head of a 40 voice choir the next time I have a chance to chat with a disadvantaged person."

Click here


 

"Half the Sky" - African girls - The Esther Generation Risking it for Stolen girls

The blog you will click on, if you want to be profoundly challenged to understand the plight of African girls, is one of the most moving Cathie and I have ever encountered.

Click here

We hope you will set aside five minutes to let the message sink in, to be captivated by the love for African girls behind the photos, and to seek your own ways to be a blessing to girls in a continent all to often know for cruelty, rape, abuse and hurt towards "Half the Sky".

 

Paul in Corinth - 58 photos in a photo essay

The location of Corinth beside the Bay of Corinth

When Paul visited Corinth, he entered one of the most complex societies of the ancient world. The message he brought was going to shake the understanding of both Jews and Gentiles, leading them to a whole new way of thinking.

The two letters Paul wrote to the church in Corinth (he wrote three, or four letters, but we read two of them in our Bibles) enter into specific issues relating to the Body of Christ, Resurrection, Christians going to court against each other, marriage, sexuality, gifts of the Holy Spirit and other issues in a unique way.



The Water Fountain was at the center of the city

Not only did the geographical location of Corinth and the cultural life of the city impact the church; customs clashed there. Eastern and Western Mediterranean ways of life came together with surprizing results.

The location of Paul's appearance before the city's magistrates is there for every visitor.

 find photos here

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One interesting factor is that a Biblical reference to the governor of the region coincides precisely with the archeological evidence, giving us an exact date for Paul's trips.

Sensuality and temple prostitution was openly practised. On top of the mountain close by (you can climb it , but give yourself two hours to get up to the top) was a temple dedicated to the goddess of love, with 2,000 "sacred" prostitutes.

These photos may be used personally or shared with others.





 

Why Muslims are becoming the Best Evangelists - part 8 in a series on God's Kingdom

If CNN dared to publish this, or any other TV channel, they'd declare, "Developing Story!"

Muslim Background Believers are becoming the best evangelists in the Muslim world.

This video, made in Denver, Colorado, shows what God is doing in raising up Muslim Background Believers (MBB's) as an incredible force for evangelism. Not the story line, the tight logic, amazing passion, God's personal intervention through Video here
dreams and visions and Nabeel's willingness to count the cost of accepting Christ in this amazing presentation:

When you click on this Christianity Today story (there are five electronic pages to go through) if you want to get this story - something you may not have heard in the regular secular news. I don't have to suggest why the appearance of MBB evangelists for Christ is left out of the "news".

Read an incredible story here

Paul in Athens - Part 2 - 47 photos with explanations

The impact of Paul's preaching in Athens was initially unnoticed by the general population, but today the place of the Christian church in Greece is profound. Orthodox churches form the second largest group within "Christendom".

Athens was the center of Greek culture, philosophy and history. The city considered itself to uphold the best of Greek values.

A thousand years of tradition had spread Greek ideas to every corner of the Roman Empire.  We speak of a Greco-Roman culture when we come to the pages of the New Testament.


Read here - find 47 photos and explanations in a quick visit to Athens

Paul was wise enough to know his message would cause loud objections for it against the traditions of Athens. He found a unique way to introduce his beliefs to these very clever men.

At some point in the past, a sculpture had been placed in a prominent place. It led people to think about a 'god that as yet had no name'. This was curious and people must have wondered who the "unknown god" was.  Every god in the pantheon had its own name and specific powers, or realm of control.

The apostle spoke of an "unknown god" and used this unique statue to teach about the Almighty, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus.




 

Gladiators and horsemen fete Rome's 2,767th anniversary - 60 photos of Rome's Strength Early Christians Faced

In Aspendos, a Turk wants to be a gladiator

April 21 - Rome's birthday. 2,767 "anniversaries".

Easter - Christ is Risen. "In the Beginning was the Word and the Word with God and the Word was God."

Early Christians faced the might of Rome's laws, armies and institutions. They were opposed by Greek religions and put down by wise philosophers who brought their great knowledge against followers of "The Way", hoping to crush this new faith.

The Great Theater in Ephesus seats 24,000

Rome's glory lasted for a little more than 1,000 years. Constantinople's majesty also captured the world's attention for a little more than 1,000 years. Western European powers are presently caught up in the pride of their own (temporary) successes.

In Pergamum, the Temple of Trajan and Hadrian is partly restored

The seven novels I'm writing, one about each of the Seven Churches of the Revelation, explore the challenges early Christians faced when the might of Rome and the wisdom of Greece confronted humble followers of Jesus Christ in Pergamum, Sardis, Thyatira, Philadelphia, Laodicea, Smyrna and Ephesus. I would appreciate your prayers as I bring the fifth novel to a conclusion in the next month.

A photo journal of events in Rome shows 60 photos, marking the 2,767th anniversary of the founding of Rome. These photos may indicate the kind of world in which early Christians found themselves. Find photos here

Easter in music and photos

The Garden tomb in Jerusalem

Easter is here. "He is risen."

"Yes," comes the reply, repeated for almost 2,000 years in thousands of languages and from the lips of millions of believers,

"He is risen indeed!"

"He Died for Me" A song with photos as a background.

"The Glory of the Resurrection" A dramatic poem with background of many paintings, drawings and art.

"Skull Hill" in Jerusalem, located near a bus terminal today

On Good Friday, our thoughts turn towards the cross, where the Lamb of God bears the suffering of the world. Incredibly, many passages in the Old Testament are fulfilled simultaneously, all the way from "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psalm 22), to the description of the Messiah's carrying our sin upon him.

He became our sin, and he was stricken for our iniquities. (Isaiah 53) He has known my sin.

But then, he is "assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence and no deceit was found in his mouth."



Two men ;eave the Garden Tomb, as Peter and John did

In Jerusalem, visitors will find two locations "where Jesus died and rose again." The oldest is in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre", mostly visited by Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Coptic and other traditional churches. (Because of quarrels among the clergy of these three strands of Christianity, the key to the church is held by a Muslim caretaker.)

The three photos on my blog post today  come from the Garden Tomb, mostly visited by Protestant Christians.

Christians around the world commemorate Good Friday in different ways, some trying to identify with Jesus Christ by being nailed to crosses. 14 Photos will take you around the world as you see how the Christian message penetrates deeply into various cultures. (Some photos are graphic.) Unfortunately, many of the people who take part in this type of cruel punishment do not know the truth that once the Lamb of God was sacrificed there is no more need for anyone to be crucified.   Photos from around the world on Good Friday