A new anthology helps us see the “saints and stumblers” of Scripture with fresh eyes. During Sunday worship at my Anglican church, a lector reads aloud from the Old Testament, the Psalms, and the Epistles. The climactic moment occurs when a priest carries the Bible above his head from the altar to the nave, where he reads the Gospel. This liturgical gesture communicates two things: first, that the enfleshed Word of God came into the world and dwelt among us (John 1:14); second, that the... Read More
Seas are rising. It rains more. How much of that is making hurricanes worse?
“They’re rare events, so when you have rare events uncertainty is hard to characterize,” said Frank Marks, chief of NOAA’s hurricane research division and lead investigator for its forecast improvement project. “This is what we expect, we just haven’t seen much yet to say, ‘Yep that’s right.'” ... Read More
Why Muslims Love Mary
Followers of Islam admire the mother of Jesus. But can she be a bridge to Christianity? Mohammed, a pious PhD student from Egypt, sat guardedly in the “Community of Reconciliation.” Invited by David Vidmar, director of coaching for Peace Catalysts International, the middle-aged Muslim seemed soured on the idea of interfaith exchange at his northern California university. Vidmar suspected Mohammed came to the jointly led Muslim-Christian dinners because he felt obligated to do... Read More
Lots of cities want Brightline stations. Here’s where the next ones are likely to go.
Aventura, which was incorporated as a city in 1995, is one of the wealthiest enclaves in Miami-Dade County, with a high concentration of foreign investors, professionals and executives as residents, and high-end hotels, malls, restaurants and the Turnberry resort as attractions. It boasts the 2.4 million-square-foot Aventura Mall, the third-largest indoor mall in the country, and five outdoor malls. ... Read More
Church Planting R&D: Part 3 – Small Groups, Missional Communities & Micro-Churches
Some churches are small as a deliberate decision toward the commission of disciple-making. Small churches seem to come in two basic forms: deliberate and symptomatic. Some church’s diminutive size is actually a symptom of internal and/or external factors hampering its obedience to disciple-making. Like a bonsai tree , many unnatural ecclesial forces are often inflicted on a local body in order to stunt its missionary effectiveness and perpetuate its reproductive sterility and... Read More
Jeffrey Epstein in South Florida: A constant search for new girls
“I remember one occasion or two occasions she would say to me, John, give me a list of all the spas in Palm Beach County,” said Juan Alessi, manager of Epstein’s Palm Beach house, in a sworn deposition. “And I will drive her from one to the other to PGA, in Boca; and she would go in and drop credit cards — not credit cards but business cards, and she would come out. And then we’d go to — she will recruit the girls.” ... Read More
Jeffrey’s Epstein’s victims still want justice — from everyone involved
Michael Fisten, a private investigator who works for Brad Edwards, a lawyer associated with the open case, said Saturday that he is confident the case will continue after Epstein’s death. Fisten said the case is important because it could potentially expose Epstein’s co-conspirators, who he believes need to face penalties for allowing Epstein to operate. ... Read More
Jeffrey Epstein is dead, but it could take years to unravel his vast estate
What will be interesting, Bloom said, is whether beneficiaries of Epstein’s estate are willing to do right by his victims, many of whom, she said, have suffered lifelong depression as a result of their encounters. “The damages are very real,” Bloom said. “I think its justice for his money to be used to compensate for those damages.” ... Read More
Noah Sneed, 2, who died in hot van, remembered at his funeral as a funny, mischievous boy
“Tragedy has stricken this family, but what it has done for all of us is to cause all of us to take another look,” Mathis said in Noah’s eulogy. “Because of it, everyone is taking another look. Everybody is checking their cars, because of Noah.” ... Read More
Broward Health gets it right, then gets it wrong — again | Editorial
When it became clear that that’s where they were headed, Klein packed up and left, saying he wouldn’t participate in a vote he considered illegal. Ure, who’d had to leave but was on the phone, disconnected after insults were leveled. But Marie Waugh — who was on the phone after having left to attend her birthday dinner — agreed to return to create the quorum needed to vote. ... Read More