September 2011

Some good words [and a few bad ones] In Katherine Paterson’s children’s novel, Bridge to Terabithia, a fascinating conversation takes place. Leslie, the new neighbourhood girl, is riding home after…

Everybody knows the new church on the block. It’s the fresh, informal, innovative church plant down the street. “New Church” may be small, but everybody is deeply invested – and it shows in the way they love each other and their neighbours.

On occasion, I’ve set up my telescope in the courtyard at Columbia Bible College, Abbotsford, B.C., to show students the sky. Tuesday evenings work best, as I can interact with…

Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy’s Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back
Author: Todd Burpo, with Lynn Vincent
Now, finally, thanks to Todd and Colton Burpo, we know a lot more about heaven than we did a few years ago! We know that we will have wings and will fly (though Jesus won’t). We know that infants (even miscarried babies) keep growing there, whereas older people revert to how they looked in early adulthood (but without glasses). We know that Gabriel sits at God’s left hand, that only Jesus gets to ride his horse. We even know what Jesus looks like.

Introducing Justin Majeau, Nathan McCorkindale, Tyson Kliem, Steve Roukema, Lorne Willms

Farewell to Charlie Peronto, Paul and Kathy Francis

Changes for Gail Alcock

Spiritual Leadership
Authors: Henry and Richard Blackaby
“Leadership occurs when you move people from where they are to where they ought to be” as God leads, contend Henry and Richard Blackaby, in their expanded revision of Spiritual Leadership published in 2011. A strong theme throughout the book is that leaders who want to lead in God-honouring ways must hear from God and obey his voice.

Although Dora the Explorer succeeds within each episode of her children’s show, the more profound triumph arises from the accumulation of all her adventures. In fact, there is an “in-order-to-ness” about the entire cartoon series.

The Tree of Life
Director: Terrence Malick
The first time I viewed The Tree of Life starring Sean Penn, I didn’t understand or grasp all of it, yet I was profoundly moved by it. There is something deeply spiritual about this Cannes-film-festival award-winning film with which I resonate. The visual imagery is stunning, but the story line eluded me somewhat.

City of Tranquil Light
Author: Bo Caldwell
I’m not a great reader of novels, but from time to time one catches me by surprise and entirely captivates me. Such a story is Bo Caldwell’s City of Tranquil Light. The California writer and former Stegner Fellow in creative writing at Stanford University has written a rich and engaging story about Mennonite missionaries in China just after the time of the Boxer Rebellion.

The Church Awakening: An Urgent Call for Renewal
Author: Charles R. Swindoll
The Church Awakening is born out of Swindoll’s grim assessment of the contemporary church: it has “eroded” to a watered-down, politically correct social club ravaged by postmodernity and consequently ineffective. This erosion has caused the U.S. to shift from a “Christian era” to a “post-Christian era,” to the detriment of both church and nation.

A 15-metre galley ship tucked into the ruins of a castle vault restores to public memory a dramatic episode in Anabaptist history. It tells the story of 90 Hutterite men condemned to galley service – rowing the narrow warships – for refusing to recant their faith. A Taeufermuseum (Anabaptist museum) in Austria’s Falkenstein castle displays the historical context and faith emphases of the country’s Anabaptist movement.