There is a little bit for everyone today on The Early Bird

Welcome To College Join A Church

As you confidently don your school colors this Saturday, remember you’re clothed in Christ, called to faithfulness. The gospel compels us to surrender, to lay down preferences and comforts for the sake of the kingdom. And while the college cafeteria’s salad bar or your social media feed beg for self-focused consumption, the local church instead beckons your faithful commitment. Where the world shouts self, the Word summons self-denial. This gospel calls all believers to meaningful membership in the local church.

Are You Feeling Lonely?

Interestingly, psychologists and therapists argue that 40% of their success with a client is determined by the quality of relationships the client has outside of the counseling office. And churches—even with their imperfections—can provide exactly the type of therapeutic community a lonely person needs.

Sovereignty, Responsibility and the Cross

How do we reconcile the fact that the Bible simultaneously presents God as absolutely sovereign over all things and humans as personally responsible for their own sin? 

How Often Do You Pray For Your City?

There are basically two purposes for petitionary prayer—to change the world’s status quo (“thy kingdom come”) and to align our hearts with God’s heart (“thy will be done”). If we let one or the other of these purposes become too dominant, our prayers become too shrill and manipulative or too passive and defeatist.