Blogs

Minimal And Essential

The minimalist life is “living with things you really need. It means removing anything that distracts us from living with intentionality and freedom” (www.becomingminimalist.com). It is a lifestyle that seems to me to be easily spoken and written, but difficult to execute. The minimalist lifestyle calls for a measure of fasting and heart change to […]

Read More
Blogs

The Hall Closet

By Brother Matthew Henson Robert Boyd Munger wrote the booklet, My Heart, Christ’s Home, in 1954. I was immediately drawn to this booklet when I was first introduced to it when I was on staff of Campus Life and Youth for Christ in Lexington, Kentucky in the early 2000s. In the opening section of the […]

Read More
Blogs

The Exchanged Life

By Brother Brian Shimer Have you ever had the experience of being bowled over? Not literally thrown off your feet, but spiritually, emotionally brought alive, shaken from one place to another, having your eyes opened to what was always there but never seen? Perhaps it happened in an especially moving worship setting, or under great […]

Read More
Blogs

Now is the Time to Turn to God

By Brother Doug Ruffle Author’s note:  I was asked by staff of The Upper Room to record a short video in Spanish for their weekly broadcast, which is produced in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The following is an English language rendering of the video script. “Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for […]

Read More
Blogs

WAY

By Brian Shiner I wrote a good friend who always chooses a “word for the year”. She shared that her word for 2024 is “Seek”. She wrote me this: “I need to seek what the Lord has for me next; to seek to understand; to seek to be empathetic, etc. Hummingbirds are my reminder to […]

Read More
Blogs

Rhythm

by Brother Matt Henson(During the month of January, the focus of the devotions will be on a Word for the Year. Different authors will provide a word they are focused on for 2024.) One of the blessings of traveling in ministry is experiencing the variety of daily schedules set forth at different camps, conferences, retreats, and […]

Read More
Blogs

Daily

Written by Gary Wheeler January 8, 2024 Between Christmas and New Year, I stayed home and did not go to the church. I was exhausted and needed a few days to recharge. I didn’t work on my next book or write a sermon or do anything with ministry. Instead, I read a few books and […]

Read More
Blogs

Word of the Year 2024

Written by Matthew Henson In the village of Sobier in Haiti, a person can stand at the edge of the village and look down on the greenish-blue waters of the Caribbean Sea. The beauty of the refreshing waters invites us to make the trek from the village down to the water. It is about a […]

Read More
Blogs

Christ Candle

Written By Matthew Henson Read Luke 2:1-20 For many years in the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s, my dad sang in a Gospel Group with a gifted pianist and song writer named Juanita Atkinson. She wrote a song that spoke to the ongoing battle between the materialism of the season and the real […]

Read More
Blogs

Love…

by Brother Brian Shimer Pray together — Lord Jesus, born at Christmas we offer today’s devotional time to you. Come join our family circle. Meet us in our thoughts, prayers, discussions. And help us draw closer to you in order for us to become more and more like you. Indeed, may our living lives look […]

Read More