An unexpected example of poverty in America This one has a surprise ending; even more relevant during this week’s fiscal cliff negotiations. Preparing for a Short-Term Mission Trip, Post 1: Spiritual Preparation I’ve both sent and received hundreds of short-term volunteers

2012 was a year of severe religious persecution. What is not widely known is that Christians are the group persecuted in more countries than any other religion. See full info graphic here. This reality is hitting the larger media outlets, today’s Wall Street Journal featured thi

With elections, war, and last week Newtown… even the end of the world scheduled for this Friday, December 21, 2012… one can be drawn to despair. Politicians and media work together to create an atmosphere of impending disasters that only they can solve. However, just a lit

I was at another one of those meetings for area pastors yesterday. We use the term “religious leaders” instead of pastors because we don’t want offend the Muslim and Jewish leaders in our community who NEVER attend. Anyway, we were talking about the problem of the ne

Gerson and Wehner, who served in the George W. Bush White House, offer City of Man as a beginner’s guide to sorting out religiously motivated involvement in public policy. They rightly reject the demand of some secularists to disqualify any religiously based input in a policy di

Starting a new budget year at Cornerstone Church.  Here is what we’ve decided for 2013. We target 1/3 toward ministries outside of our church, 1/3 for staff and ministries, and 1/3 for facilities. Below is more detail on how the Regional & Global (funds on ministries outside of th

The purpose of Willard and Sheppard’s book Contagious Generosity is not to help churches raise funds, but to help churches create a culture of generosity that raises up generous stewards. Generosity for them is “… a lifestyle in which we share all that we have, are,

This is a good time to grab the tools that you need to be ready for anything while traveling. Below is a list of items that I’ve found to be most helpful. 1. Utili-Key 6-in-1 Key chain Multi-Tool What I like about this on is that it fits on my key chain, passes through airport s

It’s no surprise that when an institution has few restrictions to use violence to gain power and accumulate wealth that it attracts seedy elements of any society. This misuse of resources affects the powerless and poor the most. The map below shows the perception of governments&

I saw in an article recently that the number of families on free and reduced lunches in Iowa went from 4.3% to 11.4% in the last ten years. More than double! My first thought was that the requirements were lowered to add more people.  So I did a little research and math: Eligibility f

No individual church has all the resources to meet all the requests for aid that comes its way. One day the request might be for emergency housing, another day for utility assistance, another day marriage or family counseling. Sometimes requests come from members of the congregation;

1. An unexpected example of poverty in America 2. An example of the neo-racism of the left, surfaced today in Iowa 3. Watch this video to understand the answer to everything global: the pencil 4. Perspectives Highlights and Review 5. Preparing for a Short-Term Mission Trip   &nbs

Above is the information for Des Moines, Iowa. Click on the map to zoom in on another city to find overall ranking, income growth, employment growth and industrial structure of each city.

ChurchMorph is written to identify and explain various ways that the church is adapting to current societal transitions. These transitions or megatrends include: From modernity to postmodernity: Recognizing that people today place lower value on rationalistic or authoritative approach

Aid vs. Trade In these days of global economic crisis it may be good to remind ourselves about some good news. The percentage of the world population living in extreme poverty has decreased significantly from 42% in 1990 to 25% in 2005. Where there has been more trade and less aid, mo