Ben Ward |
March 24, 2020 |
Blog COVID-19 COVID-19 News Teaching
All this time in pandemic-induced solitude has put me in a more reflective frame of mind. The COVID-19 outbreak is forcing many of us to abruptly adopt remote-work practices. For the last five or more years, I’ve lived in Singapore and worked remotely with our team...
Ethan Linder |
March 19, 2020 |
Blog COVID-19 The Church & COVID-19
As our communities scramble to respond to the novel coronavirus, churches have an opportunity to lead the way in faithful, compassionate service to the sick, needy and those at-risk. This really is a make-or-break time for churches to be load-bearing institutions in...
Ethan Linder |
March 19, 2020 |
Blog
As COVID-19 causes churches to cancel services, effective congregations in these weeks will be measured less by how many people we can gather, and more by how deeply we can send our people into our communities to (wisely, cautiously, hopefully) serve and bear the...
Devon Smith |
March 18, 2020 |
Blog Inspiration The Church & COVID-19
The COVID-19, or coronavirus, has now been labeled a pandemic by the World Health Organization as countries struggle to contain the spread of the virus. Bottom line, the coronavirus is now considered a global threat. I cannot remember a time when a pandemic has...
Ben Ward |
March 11, 2020 |
Blog Featured Blog Inspiration The Church & COVID-19
On March 9, I was issued a home quarantine order from the Ministry of Health here in Singapore. This means I essentially can’t leave my bedroom for the next eight days. I was on a flight from Istanbul to Singapore on March 3. Apparently, a fellow traveler sitting...
Jim Dunn |
February 28, 2020 |
Blog Inspiration
Christians around the world associate the Lenten season as a time of sacrifice. A high school friend always gave up chocolate for Lent. Another friend decided his household would give up television viewing during Lent. That is, until she realized she would miss...
Ron McClung |
February 27, 2020 |
Blog Inspiration
Little February, the smallest of months, boasts loudly of its holidays — Valentine’s Day and Presidents’ Day. It is also African American History Month. The Wesleyan Church was formed in 1968 with the merger of two historic denominations. One of them — the Wesleyan...
Caryl Aukerman |
February 27, 2020 |
Blog Inspiration
Our missionary team had been praying for God to break down century-old spiritual strongholds in the country of Albania when a month before Christmas, for roughly 50 seconds, a 6.4 magnitude quake shook our home, our neighborhood, our city and region. While other...
Ron McClung |
January 30, 2020 |
Blog Inspiration
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. (Ex. 20:16) “Each of us fibs at least 50 times a day,” claimed Jerald Jellison in USA Today. He suggested people lie about their age, their income and their accomplishments. They may fib to escape embarrassment...
Communication Team |
January 30, 2020 |
Blog Teaching Voices
Do you have something that you’re really passionate about? Usually it is something that you talk about often — and without much (if any) prompting. It just tends to bleed from you. These passions are usually brought up with some kind of assumption that others are...
Ron McClung |
November 29, 2019 |
Blog Inspiration
Bruce Thielemann told about a European monarch who, a couple of times a year, would take off his royal robes, dress as a peasant and go out among his people. His courtiers worried about this; they didn’t like the king putting himself in danger. But the king said, “I...
Michael Jordan |
November 28, 2019 |
Blog Featured Blog Inspiration
How did you learn that God loves you? Most of us could answer this on two different levels. There was the day we learned about God’s love, and then there was the day where it made sense, where we intuitively began to understand that God loved us and we started to live...
Josh Hawk |
October 31, 2019 |
Blog Inspiration
On May 26, 2018, I had an accident that would forever change my life. I attempted to ski from the summit of Mt. Hood (in Oregon) and ended up falling about 450 feet to what should have been my imminent death. A 10-hour rescue, involving about thirty individuals from...
Justine Tegen |
October 30, 2019 |
Blog Inspiration
We love personal pronouns. We iMessage people on our iPhones while setting up profiles to personalize our experience on Netflix, Amazon, Instagram and even the grocery store. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The language we use reveals what we value. And...
Sandy Emmett |
October 16, 2019 |
Blog Teaching
“Mom, are you listening to me?” My three kids were very good at parroting back to me my questions to them. I often would say loudly to them when they were toddlers, tweens or teens, “Hey, are you listening to me?” But sometimes they would ask it back. “Mom, are you...
Communication Team |
October 16, 2019 |
Blog Teaching
“Hi, I’m trying to master your language, and one of the ways I’m learning is by telling stories. Could I tell you a two-minute story that I learned recently, and maybe you can suggest how I could tell it better?” My family lives in a country where the population is...
Emily Vermilya |
September 30, 2019 |
Blog Teaching
My grandparents grew up during the Great Depression. My dad would remind me of this when, as a kid, my grandmother instructed my brother and me to wash and hang-dry the used tin foil in her kitchen when we were on clean up duty following a family dinner. Similarly, my...
Katie Long |
July 16, 2019 |
Blog Resources WPH
Mike Hilson has always loved writing. As his church, New Life Church in La Plata, Maryland, continued to grow, his desire to connect people with Scripture on a personal level collided with his love to write. By writing the Coffee with the Pastor series (books focusing...
Ron McClung |
July 10, 2019 |
Blog Inspiration
Ceramic floor tile is very unforgiving. Trying to find something in our pantry the other day, my wife nudged the spaghetti sauce just a little too far, and off the shelf it tumbled. The glass jar hit the tile and burst open, sending glass shards and bright red sauce...
Kay Holm |
June 3, 2019 |
Blog Inspiration
Growing up in the 1950s was a unique experience in itself. Add to that growing up in a large, rambunctious pastor’s family, in a three-story bright yellow home on Main Street, smack in the middle of a small town in Washington State, and you’ve got memories. Those days...
Kelly Yonce |
May 16, 2019 |
Blog Featured Blog Voices
Learn more About Voices Blogs Let me begin by saying I’m grossly unqualified to start this discussion, but it’s still my responsibility. I sat with fellow church staff questioning how seven teens from the same school could attempt suicide, one of them succeeding. We...
Tamiko Turner |
May 13, 2019 |
Blog Discipleship Inspiration
Lately, I’ve been really moved by the story of the woman who washes Jesus’ feet in Luke 7. Every time I read it, I feel a deeper sense of awe and grace about what is going on in this story. To recap, Jesus is invited over for dinner by a Pharisee named...
Jon Wiest |
May 13, 2019 |
Blog Discipleship Teaching
People relate to one another differently in different spaces. Gather 30 people together in a large worship center and the experience will feel disconnected and distant. Gather the same 30 people in a living room and the energy and connection will increase...
Justine Tegen |
May 1, 2019 |
Blog Teaching
I received bad news that day. The minute I got it, my thoughts started swirling. Everything seemed like it was in question: my future, my identity, my security. I knew I needed to talk to someone, so I made a phone call, sent a couple of texts, met up with those...
