On October 31, 1517 an obscure monk named Martin Luther, desiring to spark theological discussion over the medieval practice of selling indulgences, nailed his 95 Theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany. The spark he set off ignited a flame that spread across Europe and launched the Protestant Reformation. By challenging …
In April a team from Keep Believing Ministries spent two weeks in Uganda and Kenya. One of our team members, MaryAnn Spiegel, came back home with over 300 video clips. Josh took the clips and combined them with still photos to produce a short video. The music you hear in the background comes from Krystin Ndela, one of Africa’s most popular Ch…
October 31 is Reformation Sunday, which commemorates one of the most important days in church history. On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg, Germany, sparking the Protestant Reformation. Many pastors will be preaching on the great themes of the Reformation this Sunday. Here are a …
A few Saturday night thoughts . . . 1. After visiting three different Chinese house churches, we were impressed with their emphasis on prayer. In American churches, we pray and then we get down to business. In China prayer is their business. They pray together, they pray out loud, and they pray often. Peter Wang put it very simply, “When you …
I am writing this note from the “Hub Lounge” at Incheon Airport in Seoul, South Korea. After two wonderful weeks in Korea and China, we are on our way home. As a way to remember God’s blessings, here are some of our favorite pictures from the trip. …
On Sunday morning we attended a house church in Dalian. They moved to the apartment after the authorities forced them out of the rented facilities where they had been meeting. Since then some believers have left but the core remains strong and committed.The first people arrive at 8:30 AM to pray. Following Chinese cust…
Yesterday Peter took us on a ride outside of Dalian. It’s hard to explain the nature of Chinese cities because they consist of massive apartment buildings that sprawl out in every direction. The vast majority of people live in those high-rise buildings. You don’t see very many single-family homes. There are a few but not so many. So the…
On Sunday night I spoke for a “Meet the Author” event for students from six different universities in Dalian (metro population: 6 million). The authorities had put pressure on the organizers not to have the meeting, including much pressure on the key student leader on Saturday, asking him to postpone the event. As late as Sunday afterno…
There are going to be many opportunities for us to look back and regret or second-guess decisions that we have made. If we are not careful, this can lead to a kind of paralysis and hinder our ability to make good, positive decisions in the present and future….
On Sunday morning we worshiped with the English-speaking congregation at Youngnak Presbyterian Church in Jeju City. This growing congregation is one of hundreds of churches planted by the mother church in Seoul. It currently attracts around 1600 worshipers every Sunday, making it the largest church on Jeju Island. Until recently the church did not …