“We live in an age where attention has become our most endangered resource. Every sound, every scroll, every urgency competes for it. But what if the real threat to our spiritual lives isn’t disbelief, but distraction? What if the Spirit has not grown silent, but we have grown unable to hear?” Jeremy Sims asks these […]
A pastor I know was a failure by church growth standards. Physically unimpressive, chronically ill, a mediocre speaker, he led small churches his entire career, though his tenure at each was short. He did have a talent for friendship, however. I’m talking about the apostle Paul, of course. He shaped the direction of Christianity more […]
“Sometimes I wonder if heaven will feel a bit like an afternoon nap,” writes Brett McCracken in The Wisdom of Sleep. Maybe it’s because naps are signpost of something far greater that we’ve not yet fully experienced. Maybe it’s because even the most relaxing vacation, replenishing Sabbath, and restorative night’s sleep are only teasers for […]
Every morning, I recite the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325/381) during my devotions. The creed outlines doctrines all branches of Christianity affirm, especially the Trinity and Incarnation. Reciting the creed may seem strange to Pentecostals. In our theologizing, we often ignore or downplay the Great Tradition — Christianity’s historic creeds and confessions — opting instead for […]
I recently began journaling again after a decades-long hiatus. In my teens and 20s, I chronicled my thoughts and prayers regularly. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living,” and I believed him. Until I didn’t. When I was 27, my then-fiancee ended our relationship, upending the life trajectory I had so carefully planned […]
Welcome to the Influence Podcast! I’m George P. Wood, executive editor of Influence magazine and your host. Lee Grady writes the following in his book, Lead Like Paul: Saul of Tarsus — who eventually became known by his Greek name, Paul — is our mentor and spiritual father. Apart from Jesus Himself, he is our best […]
If we followed doctors’ recommendations, we’d sleep seven to nine hours daily, spending about one-third of our lives in bed. Sleep is “the universal healthcare provider,” according to researcher Matthew Walker. “Whatever the physical or mental ailment, sleep has a prescription it can dispense.” Unfortunately, one-third of Americans don’t take their medicine. John Calvin wrote […]
IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which […]
At two o’clock, Judge Kellogg introduced Mr. Lincoln, who was again greeted with vociferous applause. After the noise had subsided, he commenced and delivered the ablest, and, as I think, the most powerful argument ever heard in Old Fulton. The speech was two hours and a half long, yet there seemed to me to be […]
On July 5, 1852, Frederick Douglass delivered the following speech to the Rochester Anti Slavery Society in Rochester, New York. In this searing oration, he highlighted the contradiction between the ideals of the Declaration and the practice of slavery as it then existed. ————— Mr. President, Friends and Fellow Citizens : HE who could address […]
