CHILDREN'S LETTERS TO GOD A little girl wrote a letter to God which read: "Dear God, hugging is a good thing. Did You think it up? -- Alice" Another little girl wrote: "Dear God, the…
Sermon Illustrations
COMMUNICATION / INTERPRETATION It's like the cab driver told the tourist as they drove past the government archives building. The tourist looked at the carved words, "What is Past is Prologue," and he asked the…
CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING In the war of 1812, the American general, William Winder, in spite of having a four-to-one troup superiority over the British, led his army to defeat and was taken prisoner. The British,…
FOLLOW YOUR BUBBLES I recently had a conversation with a man who's a scuba diver. He shared an interesting story. He said that when you're down deep you're encircled by light. There's no way you…
DIFFERENTIATION If you cannot tell the difference between the fragrance of a rose and the scent of a cigar, your sense of smell is dead. If you see little difference between a wrong and a…
PSYCHIC LIMITATIONS How come you never see this in the headlines?: PSYCHIC WINS LOTTERY! Jay Leno
WORK IT OUT! The kingdom of heaven is like a young boy named Terry, who loved to tinker. He took apart everything he could get his hands on - radios, toasters, washing machine timers, television…
LOST AND FOUND An incident years ago helped me understand why people may not realize they are lost. It was during the Christmas crush at a large shopping mall. Somehow our four year old son…
TEN KEYS TO HAPPY RELATIONS IN THE CHURCH Speak to people. There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting. Smile at people. It takes 72 muscles to frown and only 14 to…
IT'S ALL IN TWOS Visitors want to know how many services we have on Sunday, and I tell them two. They are both at eleven o'clock. One is too formal, has too many ancient hymns,…
CHURCH OPEN FOR PRAYER -- CHECKING IN The story is told of a certain priest who was puzzled by a shabby old man who went into his church at noon every day and came out…
USE YOUR DECODER RING BEFORE EVERY SERMON John McClure tells the preachers among us some "do's and don'ts." "Never use illustrations that swallow up sermons. Never use illustrations simply because they are so good they…
MURPHY'S LAW FOR CHURCHES The longest Scripture readings always come on Communion Sundays./The probability of the pastor tripping over the mike cord is greater in special holiday services than at other times. If one usher…
THE CHURCH AS FEEDING PLACE Many times when it comes to the ministry of the church, we think that if we open the doors, everyone will flock in. Recently, my son and his grandad made…
PREPARE FOR THE WORST While pastoring in Great Britain, I had the privilege of attending a "Grace" Ministries House Party (convention). In a testimonial response regarding the theme of Repentance and Victorious Living an English…
DEAD OR ALIVE Live churches have space problems--parking, classromms, etc.; Dead churches have no worry about space, Live churches are always changing things; Dead churches don't have to--they just stay the same. Live churches have…
FRIENDS As a conscientious objector eager to learn more about the peace testimony of my denomination, I enrolled at the Earlham School of Religion, A Quaker seminary in Richmond, Indiana. With my family to support,…
MISSING CHILDREN Every morning on the back page of Section 1 of a San Francisco, Bay Area newspaper are the pictures of two recently kidnapped young girls. These daily pictures, accompanied by biographical information about…
LIFE'S SPACE SHUTTLE The switch was thrown at Mission Control And the craft leaped forth from the launch pad; The lifeless hulk just moments before Now heavenward rose, blinding, fireclad. What a glorious sight as…
CHRISTOPHER! It was an hour of high drama. Right in front of the church. And across the street. And up and down the street, and around the corners. It was Wednesday, April 19th, around 5…
