Loren Seibold

By James M. Reeves. Grand Rapids: Kregel Publications, 2010.

After reading his biography at the beginning of this book, it won’t surprise you that James M. Reeves would attempt to resurrect the recovery and refuge movement in a conservative…

A colleague stopped by my office not long ago. We see one another seldom enough that we make the most of each opportunity for conversation. On this occasion, we got on to the subject of our families. He told me about his brother, a successful…

I grew up attending a 100-member church located in a town of about 300. One evening when I was a teenager, the conference lay ministries leader came to our church to show a film on a simple, direct approach to personal witnessing, with the…

It was late November when we moved into our first parsonage, located only 12 miles south of the Manitoba border. Snow had already surrounded it and was drifted high against the front door so unlike the west coast…

Annie called me on a winter afternoon. "I want to be baptized in your church," she said. Complete strangers rarely volunteer for baptism around here. I made an appointment to meet her at church on Sabbath morning.…

It happened again. During the service I saw them come in. I just kept preaching, but inside I groaned a little. I knew they would wait for me.

And they did. After nearly everyone else had shaken my hand and…

Across the long table from me, he slides into a folding chair and introduces himself. I've heard his name before, but we've never met. He's 24, fresh from seminary, and newly installed in his first parish.

He…

When I was a boy growing up on the North Dakota prairie, I'd look in every encyclopedia and geography book I could find for a mention of my state. I hoped that someone in the bigger, busier world where things really happened sensed the significant…

I have always been fascinated by unexpected relationships between cultures that were temporally and geographically separated, such as when we hear echoes of Bible stories in the fables of pagan peoples long disconnected from Christian influence…

Were you at church this morning?” I was on the phone with a friend.

“Yes, of course,” said my friend. “Our family never misses church.”

“So what did your pastor preach about?”

“Something in Revelation, something…

Every Christian tradition has a rite of passage whereby children born and raised in the church are confirmed into full church membership.

In my church that step is immersion baptism that generally takes place…

In the 12 months past, we (you and I, preachers of the gospel) have addressed the events of 9/11/2001 in our sermons. We have preached, as we must, to the times.

While the horror of September 11, now dubbed "9-11," have been the particular…

I won’t tell you his name. And knowing him as I do, I’m quite certain he won’t recognize himself in this camouflaged description. Among his other good qualities, he’s humble.

The best pastor I know lives in…

Ritual has become a dirty word, and an unwelcome idea, among some Christians. Nowadays, all the kudos seem to go to those worship events that are novel, creative, and unique. Particularly in that…