By June Mathews, contributing writer In the spring of 1969, 31-year-old Dan Sims had been a member of First Baptist Church Trussville only a few months when he “got told” by then-pastor Richard Francis that he’d be teaching a men’s Sunday School class. The current teacher would soon be moving out of state, and Sims, the pastor figured, would be a good fit for the job. As it turned out, Francis was right. Th ...

By Michael J. Brooks   Gabriel Byrne portrayed Dr. Paul Weston, a therapist on the TV program “In Treatment.” I caught a few episodes several years ago when our cable company gave a preview, and later rented the series. I watched in rapt attention as Dr. Weston probed the issues and brought about breakthroughs for his patients.   But Paul was often clueless about himself. For example, his patient, ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Psalm 23:6). "The verse means that God will dwell with me all my life," says Devon, age 10. "It also means that God will stay with me in my house." Devon, God stays at my house, too. But as King David recalled his days as a shepherd boy, I think he had somet ...

By Michael J. Brooks, Siluria Baptist Church I stood there a bit speechless since it didn’t work out like I’d planned, though I suppose it made me look kind-hearted. I paid the bill for my hamburger lunch and then gave the cashier a five-dollar bill. “Can I have some dollars?” I asked. She responded, “Who was your server?” [caption id="attachment_47240" align="alignleft" width="214"] Michael Brooks, Siluria ...

By Tyler Warner We honor the family in the Church. But something so wonderful can become truly ugly when it goes bad. For example, Abraham had several serious setbacks that all stemmed from his family. We think of Abraham as the old patriarch, but when God first called him, he was a young man named Abram. The Lord told him to leave his family and go to a new land alone. However, Abram departed with his fath ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "I would pray that I bless all the people in the world and all the animals, my cat, Rusty, especially," says Noah, age 6. Noah would also ask God to bless his house and other people's houses and "to make the parks really fun." Somewhere in Petaluma, California, there's a blessed cat named Rusty. "I pray that everyone in the world has food," says Clare, 5. We often take for gr ...

By Michael J. Brooks I accepted a lunch invitation from a community organization and was happy to meet some new businessmen and women in the area. The day’s speaker was interesting and fun, and most of us learned some new things, except several gentlemen at our table. They not only stayed on their cellphones throughout the lecture, but they whispered to one another the entire time. The matter didn’t seem to ...

By Carey Kinsolving and Friends "You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over" (Psalm 23:5). As I sit down to write, there's a table before me with many interpretations of this well-known Bible verse. One of my favorite attempts to unravel this Scripture comes from Elizabeth, age 8: "Be kind to your enemies, and I'll make you a king." King David ...

By Andy Waits, the associate pastor at FBC Springville If you want to be discouraged, spend a lot of time on social media. If you want to lose all hope in the future of our nation, read the comments on any article on any website. The internet has allowed people to anonymously sit behind a keyboard and spew false and sometimes hateful rhetoric without any regard for the truth or the people’s lives and famili ...

By Richard Harp, Deerfoot church of Christ I have been reading the Bible wrong for a very long time. This discovery has been both eye-opening and freeing at the same time. What I found may help you in your walk with God and in your personal Bible reading practices. You may be just as surprised as I was to discover you have possibly been reading the Bible wrong as well. These discoveries have also led me to ...