What Is Your Church Missing?
Imagine a church filled with people who share a common faith, worship together, and genuinely care for one another. It has a thriving children’s ministry, committed volunteers, and a congregation that takes seriously its responsibility to serve the surrounding community.
By most measures, it’s a healthy church.
But what if some of the people who could contribute most meaningfully to that community aren’t there?
California Now Requires Every Church to Become a Hate Speech Instructor
Soon every employer in California with five or more employees will be required to impose hate speech training on its workers. This is because on September 27, 2026, California’s governor signed two bills that turn a vague and politically loaded term into a mandatory training requirement.
Flying Cars
Tesla, the world’s highest valued automobile company according to market capitalization, launched its new Roadster model by literally launching it upside-down to demonstrate its ability to flip mid-air and land safely (see video). While the new hotrod is not yet available for delivery, the “flying” model was originally expected to cost a cool $250,000, and many industry experts now expect that figure to be even higher.
World Series Set
Major League Baseball’s World Series is now set. The Milwaukee Brewers will represent the National League against the American League’s Tampa Bay Rays, with game one of the best-of-seven series set to be played on Friday. The Brewers have never won the World Series and will be playing in it for only the second time, while this will be the third appearance for the Rays, who have also never won the title.
Oregon School Shooting
Three students ages 11, 8, and 5, and a teacher are dead after a 16-year-old opened fireinside a Bend, OR special needs classroom last week. A 7-year-old student and another teacher are injured but expected to recover. The shooter, identified by authorities as a former student at the school, was shot and killed by the father of two other students who entered the school after hearing gunshots. Authorities credit that father and a teacher who confronted the shooter with saving lives by stopping the attack.
Does How We Dress Still Matter?
As our culture becomes increasingly casual, I think there’s a question worth considering: Have we gained freedom in how we dress while losing some appreciation for what dressing well can communicate?
Has Anti-Christian Bigotry Captured Virginia State University?
American universities, despite their initial origin as Christian institutions, have now become hotbeds of intolerance by engaging in anti-Christian behavior. As a result, educational institutions have sought to undermine the First Amendment's vitality.
Formation and Friction
it would be a mistake (and a very easy one to make) to assume that all removal of friction is a good thing. Why? Because friction is essential to formation.
Saudi Airports Attacked
King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia has been struck several times this week by missiles fired by Houthi rebels. King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia was also struck, and the Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for that attack, as well. Thirteen people are confirmed dead in the attacks, and more than 300 injured.
Diesel Deal
The U.S. and Russia have struck a deal that will reportedly involve Russia providing approximately 5 million tons of diesel for sale to the U.S. The deal was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, and it comes amid soaring global fuel prices.
Public Execution
The Pentagon announced the execution of convicted mass shooter Nidal Hasan will be by firing squad and livestreamed on December 3, 2026.
Spurgeon on Doctrine: The Lord’s Supper
In observing the Lord’s Supper the people should not approach in ignorance of the significance of the observation. It is the great reminder of what Christ did on the cross. It is the remembrance of His death, whereas, baptism is the expression of the believer’s identification with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
Say Less
In this way, “say less” is a reminder that I don’t need to vindicate, self-affirm, or brag on myself, and that remains true even if nobody else does my vindicating or affirming for me.
Why? Because my reward—and yours, if we will indeed be content to allow it—is in heaven.
There is more I could say, but given the topic, let’s leave it there. Let’s say less!
Botched Execution
A capital punishment went awry in Tennessee last week. Christa Pike, who was convicted of murder in 1995 and sentenced to death, was given two doses of a drug intended to be lethal but was transported to the hospital after losing consciousness but remaining alive. Pike was to be the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years, and Tennessee Governor Bill Lee suspended the one remaining execution scheduled for this year, pending a third-party review of the state’s procedure.
Out of Iraq
The United States has closed its last base in Iraq, ending a 12-year mission to eradicate ISIS and potentially ending a 23-year stretch of near-constant presence in the country since the 2003 post-9/11 invasion.
AI Rebranded
AI is dominating the news. Every week brings new stories about the technology’s potential for both good and ill. Perhaps the pithiest description for this dynamic is that you should expect the technology to accelerate both the good and the bad, and it will be up to you to parse between the two. To the extent that is true, it will be a far more important discipline than which moniker you choose to use for the technology.
Does Christianity Conflict with New Thought Beliefs, The Divine Self, and the God or Goddess Within?
Religion in America has moved from being highly public and largely unified to extremely private and diverse. This quest creates the possibility of millions of American religions grounded in personal, self-obsessed, self-absorbed religious experience disconnected from a sacred text. If true, New Thought, the Divine Self, and the Goddess within culminate in the tyranny, if not the revenge, of the self. And Christian churches throughout America would do well to engage in a root-and-branch exorcism of practices and beliefs that inevitably lead to nothing less than a dead end that has escaped reality.
Strategically (Dis)Engaged
Which is it? Strength and engagement or restraint and disengagement? Yes! As with so many things in God’s Kingdom, it’s a tension of both.
Access Restored
Access to White House grounds for recently banned media outlets has been temporarily restored by a federal judge who ruled the outlets were likely to prevail in their litigation claiming violations of the First Amendment.
Terror Plot Foiled
A suspected terror plot against the Royal Air Force Fairford (RAF Fairford) military base in the UK was foiled when five suspects were arrested and charged after being stopped in three vans near the base, which is used by U.S. forces. The five suspects face charges related to explosives and terrorism, and officials are investigating whether there is any link to a foreign state, most notably Iran.