Three years ago, my church in Bullard, Texas, was very concerned regarding the spiritual and political direction in which we saw America heading. One Wednesday evening, a handful of our members gathered to pray for America. I remember praying a very simple prayer aloud: “Lord, open to us a door to the nation, that somehow we can make a difference.”

I’d never heard a sermon on Deuteronomy 23:1 until last month, when my Puerto Rican friend Luis Roig had the courage to read the text out loud to a group of men in Florida. When he did, one guy gasped and fell on the floor. Several others laughed nervously, and we all drew our knees together and groaned.

Get five people in a room and there will usually be five variations of thought concerning the end-times and the Lord’s coming. Some believe in a pre-tribulation rapture; others, a mid-tribulation rapture or even a post-tribulation rapture. You may be like the man who said he was a pan-millennialist. He believed it would just “pan out” in the end anyway.

Nine out of 10 churches in America are declining or growing at a pace slower than the rate of their communities. Churches limp along as members drift out the proverbial back door. So what can church leaders do to stop the exodus? Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources and best-selling author, sees this as a symptom of an underlying problem in most churches.

At a time when families are under attack in our culture, authors Theresa Thomas and Patti Maguire Armstrong have assembled a recipe for happy families in their book “Big Hearted: Inspiring Stories From Everyday Families” published by Scepter Publishers.

There are an estimated 10 million tithers in America that donate more than $50 billion annually to religious and charitable causes. A new 5-year constituency study released by the State of the Plate gives an inside, in-depth look at the financial, giving, and spiritual practices of 4,413 people who donate 10% or more each year.

Cleveland, Tennessee–The Tennessee Board of Nursing has cleared the way for Lee University to build a nursing program.

Sophia tops the list of names for American baby girls for the second year in a row, while King and Messiah are becoming increasingly popular names for boys, the U.S. Social Security Administration said on Thursday.

Sunday, June 2, 2013, will be different from all the Sundays that preceded it. It will be a friendlier, more cheerful and more affirming day. Gone will be the rancor and demeaning verbiage. Across the nation churches will celebrate the Seventh Annual Say Something Nice Sunday. As bullying has escalated in all walks of life including some churches, the imperative to be more Christ-like in our speech takes on even greater significance.