Have you ever gone to a professional counselor during tough times, to allow them to help sort things out?  I have.  One time was a bad experience, with a secular, obviously non-Christian counselor.  The council I received floored me, was very non-Christian, encouraged me to sin in order to meet my needs!  It almost soured me on counselors in general.  But then there was the other experience, this ...  Read More

We talk about prayer in a connection sort of way, as if it’s a key to communicating with God.  And yet I’ve admitted openly in this series of Cross Point articles that I can be frustrated in prayer, because things often do not go like I want, or like I think they should.  Am I (are we) left with this frustration, simply to cry out without response?  Isn’t something missing? The answer is yes, inde...  Read More

Some unanswered prayers trace back to a fault in the one who prays.  Some unanswered prayers trace back to God’s respect for freedom and his unwillingness to coerce.  Some unanswered prayers trace back to dark powers of Satan contending with God’s rule on earth. Some unanswered prayers trace back to the impact of sin in this world, through disease, violence, and accidents.  When unanswered prayers...  Read More

Jot these dates down in your calendar!  Registration opens on April 25th. Type your new text here....  Read More

Have you ever been frustrated with no answer to a prayer?  Unless you don’t pray, I’d be surprised if that hasn’t happened.  The simple truth is: Many prayers do not clearly have an answer, at least not that we can discern.  We pray for healing, and the healing doesn’t come.  We pray for Uncle Derwood, near death, but he dies in-spite-of our prayers.  We pray our church grows, but it seems stuck e...  Read More

I like things to be upbeat at church, don't you?  No one wants a negative vibe at worship time, not on the surface at least.  But down deep, when things aren't going well in life for us, there are times when being upbeat just doesn't work.  If we are honest with God (and why wouldn't we be, since he knows our thoughts and desires anyway) we want times when others share in our problems, when we can...  Read More

I love a walk/hike in the woods. It's freeing!  Free of traffic, noise, and free of distractions only the solitude of nature.  Gasconade Christian Service camp is nestled in the woods, with all this and an added plus of sharing this get-away experience with friends (old and new).  “Church camp” as some call it, is friends, campfires, swimming, games, growing in your faith and so much more.  For so...  Read More

In Jesus' day tax collectors, prostitutes, and those considered unclean reached out to him, and he responded with understanding and grace.  In odd contrast, many of the religious elite, the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Scribes of the Law, shook their fists at Jesus and eventually killed him.  Shaking their fist, they failed to understand that to receive a gift (grace and forgiveness) requires open ha...  Read More

Praying can be tough.  We explored that in the previous Cross Point.  But let’s not leave it there.  “We must stop setting our sights by the light of each passing ship; instead we must set our course by the stars!” said George Marshall, and we would be wise to take his advice as it relates to prayer.  Too often we let every circumstance swing us from one extreme (when something good happens) to th...  Read More

Author Philip Yancy says our English word “prayer” comes from the Latin word precarious, which is linguistically connected to our English word precarious.  Precarious means: not securely held in position, with the possibility of collapsing.  Has prayer ever felt that way to you?  You pray, but your confidence is not strong.Statistics tell us that 9 of 10 people in the U.S. pray regularly.  Interes...  Read More

Scott Springer Family Ministry We come in from a cold walk in the snow and my thoughts turn to warmer days like my first mission trip to Juarez, Mexico.  That was with Scott Springer in 2002.  Scott lead 2 mission trips with SHCC members going to Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, TX.  The visual difference across the border from El Paso to Juarez was stark.  Scott was working to...  Read More

“The celebration called worship has less to do with the pursuit of happiness than with the abandonment of the pursuit of happiness.” Richard Neuhaus “Do you think that I have come to bring peace to the earth.  I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.  For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother…  A person’s enemies will be those of his own household.  Whoever...  Read More