Month: May 2021

Tourist count improves, but it’s still off 14% from a year ago, Visit Florida reports

Meanwhile, Canadian travel for the first quarter was down 97.2%, with Florida attracting 34,000 Canadians during the period, and international tourism was down 74.4%. The state drew an estimated 564,000 overseas visitors the first three months of the year, with many nations still imposing border-screening and other travel restrictions due to COVID-19. ... Read More

Florida reports lowest COVID count in more than a month, as disease continues to wane

Palm Beach County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. Broward County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. Miami-Dade County: Test results for residents were reported , leading to a daily positivity rate of %. That’s from % the previous day. ... Read More

Church Decline and Recovery During COVID-19

A national project aims to understand the impact of the pandemic on church attendance. “Are people going to return to church after COVID?” This question, on the minds of pastors everywhere, is at the heart of the National COVID-19 Church Attendance Project (NCCAP). Posed directly to one of us by his brother, a pastor himself, it served as the genesis for this project. Most of us are aware of the effects of COVID on our home church. Many of us have heard accounts of various other... Read More

Fear the Lord. No Other Word Will Do the Trick.

Even close relatives like “awe” and “reverence” don’t quite capture the passionate intensity of trembling in the presence of a holy God. American culture is full of fear. Although our country is profoundly polarized, the fact of fear and its driving and entrenching power unites us. The objects of our fears differ: We may be most afraid of the proliferation of gross injustice or of the government infringing on our personal liberties. We may fear persecution or the... Read More

At 16, she drove drunk and killed a man. It happened again.

At the hospital, Trooper Joshua Lugo met with Carvajal. He noted that her speech was slurred, her eyes were glassy, she had trouble staying awake, and she smelled of alcohol. A medical test pegged Carvajal’s blood-alcohol content at .10, slightly above the legal limit. Results of a second test, a legal blood draw taken as a result of a search warrant, remain pending. ... Read More

South Florida Palestinians, Jews and others join global protests | Photos

“It was really beautiful because as a Palestinian, as a human being whose people are facing ethnic cleansing, you feel really alone and you feel really hopeless and you come to a rally like this with thousands of people — young, old, men, women, non-Palestinians — it was really a beautiful effort,” said Ahmad Abuznaid, executive director of US Campaign for Palestinian Rights and co-organizer of the events. ... Read More

Christians Should Be in the News Cycle, but Not of It

How believers can stay up on the day’s events without becoming prisoners of the moment. At Bethel University in Minnesota, where I’m a professor of English and journalism, I often teach a course for college seniors called “What Good is Leisure?” (Many students who sign up mistakenly believe they’re in for a restful three-credit experience.) It’s a course about “the architecture of time,” to use Abraham Heschel’s phrase, and my students this... Read More

Missions at Bay Area Community Church

Takeaways and learnings from local church visits I’m restarting my Sunday Journeys series, talking about different churches I’ve visited and taking away some learnings from each. Earlier this year, I was at Bay Area Community Church in Annapolis for their missions conference. Despite the numerous health and logistical complications COVID presented through the planning process, the pastors, staff, and congregants at BACC creatively navigated these unique circumstances with... Read More

News quiz for week of May 9

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., smiles as she speaks with reporters, accompanied by House Minority Whip Steve Scalise of La., on Capitol Hill on May 14, 2021, in Washington. Republicans voted Friday morning for Stefanik to replace Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., who was ousted from the GOP leadership for criticizing former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) (Alex Brandon/AP) ... Read More