Take a trip with me to Calcutta, India, in 1988.

Tucked away in an alley off a dingy street in that worn-out city is a very nondescript doorway. I was a bit uncertain that it was even the right place. But that humble doorway, through which I was warmly welcomed by the Missionaries of Charity, became an entrance for me into an understanding of worship that is branded deeply in my mind and heart.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly… (Col. 3:16)

Let’s talk about our relationship with the Bible, and particularly about knowing God better through “listening” to the Bible rather than just “reading” the Bible.

First, some basic facts about the Bible will help us get started…

The simple idea of this article is that without good teams, important endeavors go unaccomplished. Without good teams, there will be God-inspired missions that will “never get off the ground.”

The looming challenge is that the value our culture places on individualism puts us all at a disadvantage when it comes to team participation. For most of us to become effective team players, a deep-seated heart adjustment needs to take place where we switch off casual independence and switch on humble interdependence.

From Guest Contributor, David Cassidy (on Lent)

In his brilliant book Thank You for Being Late, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman notes the struggle we all have to keep up with the pace of change we are experiencing. The speed of our lives keeps accelerating in a never-ending battle to maintain awareness and efficiency while life continuously outpaces our ability to stay abreast of new information and changing demands. We’re tired. We’re even intimidated. We lose our bearings. We sense the need for a reset to regain the equilibrium essential to personal health and relational integrity. 

Walk down any busy sidewalk. Everybody looks fairly normal, right?

But, according to a recent Cigna study, every other person you see (58%) is experiencing significant loneliness. And for any that you see that are between 18 and 24 years old, it’s an astonishing 4 out of 5 (79%)!

You would think with all of our “connectedness” - email, cell phones, social media - we wouldn’t have a problem with loneliness. But we do.

Most churches offer sermons, but little conversation; truth, but minimal community. Sitting in our congregations and listening to sermons generally doesn’t scratch the loneliness itch. Smaller groups of 15 to 25 people help, but generally, if you were inwardly troubled with something personal, you likely wouldn’t disclose it even to that number.