Partial Shutdown
Truth is, always has been, and always will be, at odds with evil. Yes, you are called to stand for Truth. But what a beautiful and liberating reality that your unity with God and Truth does the opposite of make you enemies with your neighbor. In fact, your almighty God instructs that your love for Him be walked out through love for your neighbor (Matt. 22:34-40)!
These are divided times! But you, my friend, can be free of the division!
Cover-up Culture? Can Bethel Church Learn from First Baptist Bentonville?
Both the First Baptist Church in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Bethel Church, Redding, California, face justifiable scrutiny. First Baptist Church faces a lawsuit involving claims of “willful and wanton negligence.” The suit involves multiple defendants. The case was prompted by the misbehavior of Keenan Hord, a former youth minister, who pleaded guilty to 13 counts of sexual assault.
Against this backdrop, Bethel Church now faces credible allegations that it platformed two individuals over a span of years—Shawn Bolz and Bob Hartley—who, according to witnesses, engaged in a pattern of prophetic manipulation and sexual abuse.
Olympic Glory
The distance from gold to devastated is exceedingly thin (Vonn said it was five inches in her race this week). The gulf between your sin nature and God’s holiness is vast and impassable save the cross. The amazing news of amazing grace is that the cross made the way plain—you must only believe in and surrender to the One who died on it.
Super Bowl LX
When was the last time you left an entertainment event feeling lighter? I can almost guarantee it was because the content of that event was some combination of true, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy!
A New Summit
You and I are foolish when we “free solo” in life. This endeavor of following Jesus was never meant to be taken on without the support and encouragement of fellow believers. Galatians 6:2 instructs us to, “Carry each other’s burdens,” and Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 reminds us that, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
Burdens in life are meant to be shared. So are significant accomplishments—new summits reached, so to speak. We are to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn” (Rom. 12:15).
Snubbed
Somehow the news always makes its way out. “Sources” have confirmed that arguably the greatest coach in the National Football League will not be inducted into the Football Hall of Fame(HOF) during his first year of eligibility. Bill Belichick has been :snubbed” by the 50 member committee. He did not receive the required 40 votes to be one of the new members of the HOF. The news spread like wildfire with too many to count players, pundits, and commentators weighing in on the news. In the days that have followed news has come out that he missed it by one vote. To many the snub is atrocious and unconscionable. Others immediately blamed the infamous Spygate scandal and theorized the snub acted as punishment for it. Whatever the reason, he will be absent the HOF Enshrinement Ceremony this year. He will have to wait another year.
Winter Storm Fern
More than a dozen states made emergency declarations as Winter Storm Fern pummeled a huge portion of the United States over the weekend. A significant snowstorm was followed by sleet, freezing rain, and frigid temperatures, causing hundreds of thousands to be without power. More than half the U.S. population was impacted by the storm, and many areas remain under freezing temperatures, school closures, and limited mobility.
A Second ICE Shooting in Minnesota
There is essentially no common ground from which to start unless we start from neither of the two prevailing narratives. As we have before, we will defer to the ongoing legal process to sort these narratives out, and we will intentionally put on a different lens altogether and seek to breathe life into a story so consumed by death and destruction.
One thing is clear: The current approach is clearly not working.
Let’s you and I model the better way outlined above. It will be peculiar, and it is desperately needed.
The Peculiar Way
Nearly every story or happening in your world is immediately accompanied by two competing narratives, and each of them are rooted in some truth and an absolute prohibition on giving any quarter whatsoever to any portion of the other narrative. This is the vicious cycle that is clearly not working, and my friend, it is not working because it is not intended to work. The unstated goal of the entrenched and opposing narratives is to perpetually fuel the outrage industry.
Your approach is different, because it is not only intended to work, it also has the power to work! Your approach is not to disengage and it is not to perpetuate the chaos. It is to break through the chaos with the approach Jesus modeled by engaging cultural in a way that aims for eternal impact rather than temporary conquest.
Should Don Lemon’s Participation in a Church Invasion Be Prosecuted Under the Ku Klux Klan Act?
On January 18, 2026, Don Lemon, Nekina Levy Armstrong, and a group of raucous protestors interrupted services at the Cities Church in Minneapolis. Ms. Armstrong and two other protestors have already been arrested for their participation in the protest, while a Magistrate judge has rejected charges against Mr. Lemon. Still, the question remains whether Don Lemon, an alleged journalist, should face criminal charges as well.
Hoosiers
As a Jesus follower, you might have been for the Hoosiers or you might have been pulling for the Hurricanes (or perhaps, like me, you were for the Illini—another basketball-first school). No matter your rooting preference, this story lends a prescient reminder about our not-so-glittery past. To put it gently, each of us has a history that is less than stellar. Every one of us has sinned and fallen short of God’s magnificent glory (Rom. 3:23).
But that past doesn’t mark or determine your destiny! No matter how bleak your past, you are only one decision of surrender to Jesus away from the promise of being a child of God!
Icy in Greenland
The eyes of the world are on the icy terrain of Greenland this week, as a bevy of newscentered on U.S. President Donald Trump’s push to obtain U.S. control of the giant island nation. As part of the effort, President Trump announced planned tariffs on European countries that do not back his acquisition proposal. President Trump also wrote to Norway Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre that the decision to award someone else the Nobel Peace Prize is causing him to no longer have “an obligation to think only of Peace.” The prize was awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, but Machado gave the award to President Trump last week.
Fed Chair Investigation
Interest rate policy is important. Truthfulness before Congress is important. Limitations on governing power is important.
Tinderbox in Iran
The human heart longs to be free because it was created to be free (Gal. 5:1). You were created to be free, and you are designed to stand in the gap for those who are not (Gal. 5:13, Ps. 82:3).
Protestors Disrupt Church Service
Protesters interrupted a worship service at the Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, this week. The disruption was livestreamed by Black Lives Matter Minnesota and caused the service to be canceled. The protestors were objecting to the ongoing operations being conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and are believed to have targeted Cities Church because one of its pastors works in a local ICE office. The incident is the latest in an ongoing string of clashes over ICE’s enforcement operations.
Deadly Protest in Minneapolis
Americans should be thankful to live in a place with due process and where competing legal arguments are heard. A byproduct of this system is that the modern-day desire for immediate resolution and vindication cannot be satiated. Knowing this, let’s lead the way in using this interim space to pray for all those involved
Birthday Kickoffs
It is a major birthday year for the United States of America, as the dawn of 2026 brings with it the kickoff of a celebration (complete with newly minted coins) commemorating 250 years since the formal establishment of the nation. The year-long event will crescendo on July 4, 2026 on the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, but the entire 2026 calendar will be full of commemorations marking both the lead up to and the aftermath of that day.
Unrest in Iran
There is significant unrest in the streets of Iran, and dozens of demonstrators have reportedly been killed in recent days, including during a reported raid on a civilian hospital. Demonstrations in Iran have been frequent in recent years and have often centered on the lack of human rights, especially for women in the country. Numerous world leaders have spoken out in defense of the Iranian people and U.S. President Donald Trump said that if peaceful protestors continue to be attacked, the U.S. will come to their aid.
Midnight Raid
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife were captured by U.S. Delta Forces during an overnight raid of his compound early Saturday. According to U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the surprise raid was conducted with no loss of American life, but dozens of Venezuelans and Cubans providing security to Maduro were reportedly killed. Maduro was flown through Cuba to New York City, where he appeared in court on Monday and pleaded not guilty to charges of drug trafficking. President Trump said the U.S. will “run Venezuela” temporarily until a “safe, proper and judicious transition” can be accomplished.
Infanticide and Humans’ Pursuit of Perfection
Humankind’s pursuit of perfection on the road to paradise has always turned dark. Often this progressive pursuit has relied on questionable science that leads inevitably toward eugenics and planned breeding that culminates “in the lethal tenets of the Nazi regime.” This quest for perfection continues to reverberate throughout the West today.