Friday's Catch: Forward Operating Bases and More

Forward Operating Bases Each congregation was a local dispensary of grace. The form that grace took was up to each church and neighborhood.

The Danger of Students Taking a “Gap Year” from Church I took more than a "gap year." I was not turned off to the Christian faith when I went off to college. One of the first things I did was seek out my denomination's campus ministry. But it offered nothing more than a weekly Eucharist and a free chicken dinner. I would drift away from church during my six years in university and did not return until my three nieces had reached school age. Once it was thought that people who drifted away from the church when they were young adults would return when they became parents. Now that is no longer the case. Young people are marrying and having children later in life and they are not returning.

The Problem in Our Backyard I first became aware of the problem of sex trafficking of teenagers and children here in the United States while doing child welfare work for the state of Louisiana. Sex traffickers prey on runaway teens and neglected children of both sexes. They often hook their victims on drugs. In some cases parents, siblings, and other relatives may be complicit in their exploitation. As in the case of woman in this article, so may be peers.

Whataboutism Is a Mark of Foolishness The Capitol insurrection was horrifying enough as a spectacle of foolishness and symbol of civilizational decay. But another horrifying exhibit of foolishness has been the reactions to the event on social media. Namely, the widespread deployment of one of the laziest tactics to hit rhetoric since the ad hominem: whataboutism.

On Handling a Fool One very practical skill in leading a life of wisdom is to know what to do with those going in the opposite direction. How do you handle a fool? This ability is increasingly needed, is it not? For foolishness abounds in our society. Remember its origin. The Lord told us bad fruit comes from bad trees (Matt. 7:17). We truly have whole forests of fools growing these days and, with social media, they have been given bullhorns.

A Great Re-Imagined Tool For Your Toolbox. While we can focus only on the negative, let me tell you about a new tool reimagined. The telephone! No, I didn’t find out about a new app. No, I’m not streaming a new viewing option. No, not a new game my kids told me I had to have. I’ve realized how good it feels and what can be accomplished by calling someone. You read that right. A phone call.

3 Statistics for Better Communication While we all agree that statistics are helpful, they can also support almost any argument depending on the numbers you use. This article aims not to convince you that one medium for communication is better than another. The goal of this article is to give you a cheat sheet that will answer the question running around in your head: “What is the best way to communicate this?”