Russell Moore: I Already Miss Tim Keller’s Wise Voice

The late pastor theologian gave strong counsel to me and so many others in ministry. This piece was adapted from Russell Moore’s newsletter. Subscribe here. “Gandalf isn’t supposed to die.” That text appeared on my phone yesterday from a New York City pastor who worked closely with Tim Keller. It made me smile and cry at the same time. So many of us called Tim “Gandalf,” in part as a tribute to his frequent J. R. R. Tolkien references, but also because... Read More

Tim Keller Changed Church Planting, from City to City

From Beirut to Barcelona, pastors reflect on his influence. “Christians are called to be an alternate city within every earthly city,” Tim Keller wrote for CT in 2006. “We must live in the city to serve all the peoples in it, not just our own tribe. We must lose our power to find our (true) power.” Keller, who died on Friday, May 19, at age 72, launched nonprofit organization Redeemer City to City to train and develop leaders for gospel-led movements in urban... Read More

Yes, You Can End an Abusive Marriage

How Christians can differentiate suffering in a destructive relationship from acting self-sacrificially in a godly partnership. About a decade ago, I attended the funeral of a woman of faith that my family and I had known for decades. This longtime friend had passed away after battling cancer, and the farewell was painful. She was the kind of person whose departure meant the world had lost some of its tenderness. At her funeral in our midwestern Brazil hometown, I heard people remark that... Read More

O for a Thousand Tongues of Fire

The Spirit’s descent at Pentecost is a model for diverse and distributed leadership. The modern church in the West has a suspicious relationship with power. When it serves our interests or protects our privilege, we justify evil in many forms—from denying racism to protecting sexual predators. The problem is not new, nor is it distinctly Western, but modern projects like investigative journalism and social media have increasingly exposed it as our problem nonetheless. No... Read More

They Sang ‘a Heavenly Song’ in a Dark Chinese Jail

Two Chinese Christian women ministered to their cellmates and prison guards with stories, prayers, and hymns. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were all listening to them” (Acts 16:25). This happened in a jail cell in Macedonia about 2,000 years ago. Many years later in a jail cell in northern China, two Christian friends, Yang Xiaohui and Chen Shang (both are pseudonyms for security reasons) sang their own worship songs... Read More

She Was Born into Slavery. She Became a Missionary to Africa at 56.

How an American school teacher spread God’s love in King Leopold’s Congo. At the turn of the 20th century, the Congo Free State was one of the hardest places to be a human. For several decades, Belgian soldiers and business owners brutalized thousands of Congolese locals. They pursued rubber profits at whatever cost, taking the lives of men, women, and children who were forced to serve the whims of King Leopold. During this time, an American missionary, Maria Fearing, ran... Read More

Our Beloved Ones Don’t Become Angels When They Die

Despite what Chinese religions and pop culture might suggest, they stay human—and that’s a good thing. On May 14, 2023, Taiwanese media reported on the first TV appearance of the famous singer couple Yu Tian and Li Yaping since their daughter died of cancer. In the TV program, the couple talked about their mourning and love for their daughter, and the audience was much moved when Li said, “My daughter has gone to heaven. … She has finally become an angel.” It is... Read More

The Birds and the Bees: How Over-Spiritualizing Sex Dismisses Creation

The current debates about sexuality are missing an ecological perspective. I first learned about sex in the barnyard. Milking goats taught me the hows and whys of reproductive hormones; flocks of chickens offered lessons in fertilized eggs; and when the cat gave birth under my grandmother’s bed, I learned how to identify the sex of kittens when I was just five years old. Given the shape of modern life, my experience is increasingly uncommon. And it shows in our conversations about... Read More

Fewer Christians Know Families Who Foster or Adopt

While churches offer more support and encouragement, attendees say they’re less likely to see personal involvement. More pastors are encouraging members to adopt and provide foster care at a time when adoptions have declined in the US. A Lifeway Research study found more than 2 in 5 US Protestant churchgoers (44%) say their congregation and its leaders are proactively involved with adoption and foster care in at least one of seven ways. A similar percentage (45%) say they haven’t... Read More

Died: Superstar Billy Graham, Teenage Evangelist Who Became a Wrestling Legend

In the ring and life, he was a “heel” who wanted to be a “babyface.” Wayne Coleman, a teenage Pentecostal preacher who became a professional wrestler and took the name of the world’s most famous evangelist to perform as Superstar Billy Graham, died on Wednesday at age 79. Coleman was a charming, flamboyant, and braggadocious performer who brought bodybuilding into wrestling and influenced some of the biggest stars, including Jesse “The Body” Ventura, the Iron... Read More