One of the COVID casualties of 2020 that I felt the most was The Southside Lectures.  Understandably, they were canceled in the midst of the pandemic.  It would not have been expedient for us to meet twice a day for four days nor ask the speakers to travel when there was so much uncertainty about the coronavirus.  Still, it was a sad and odd summer without them.

    That’s why I am looking forward with such great anticipation for the return of the lectures this June.  When Brother Bowman and I asked the elders about how to proceed with planning…

Editor's Note: What follows is from an early issue of Christianity Magazine (Volume 3, #4, for April 1986). It was prepared and edited by Ed himself, and includes more about his younger days on the farm – and his own reflections on his old age and death.

So, from more than a third of a century ago, listen and profit! “Through his faith, though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4b, ESV). -- GCK

In recent years, the most bone-chilling, foreboding thought tightly caged in the back of my mind has had to do not with nuclear war or heart attacks,…

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After a few weeks study at St. John's University and Abbey, I am impressed by the perceptive Roman Catholic analysis of the weaknesses of Protestantism. They insist that Protestants are pressed between two unacceptable extremes. One extreme grows out of the assumption that man has an individual obligation…

When the twelve spies returned from scouting the Promised Land, they were (unevenly) divided in their outlook. Ten saw the strength of Canaan’s people and said, “We are not able to go up…” Two had faith in God’s promise and said, “We should by all means go up…” (Numbers 13). To put it simply, Joshua and Caleb were winners; the other spies were whiners. And sadly, because Israel paid more attention to the whiners, a whole generation missed out on the promise.

The following list is adapted from a piece that appeared…

As Israel prepared to enter Canaan, some of the tribes decided they wanted to settle in the territory east of the Jordan. God permitted this only if they helped the other tribes in the conquest of the entire land. If they did not keep that commitment, Moses warned them, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

“Be sure your sin will find you out.” That’s a warning we should all take seriously.

Your sin will find you out…in spite of time. “Because the sentence against an…

What is the purpose of the Lord's church? Is it to eradicate poverty, disease, social injustice, illiteracy from among men? Is it to bring about a cessation of war and conflict? Is it to campaign for a temptation-free society for Christians to live in?

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock…But everyone who hears these sayings of mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand” (Matthew 7:24-26, NKJV).

You’ll notice in this familiar illustration that the wise man is not one who “hears these words and understands them,” or even one who “hears these words and believes.” As vital as those things are, it is the person…

Mission creep. It’s a term you may have encountered in columns about politics, business, even education. Mission creep is when an organization established with a particular purpose (i.e., its mission) gradually drifts away from that purpose, taking on new and different functions and responsibilities. Eventually the group’s original mission may be minimized or even abandoned in favor of new goals.

Mission creep happens all the time in business. A company starts out producing one thing, then steadily expands into other areas, perhaps even leaving behind its original business model altogether. Sony Corporation,…

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The fingers on our hands can help us remember for whom to pray.

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