Faith Archive

Whenever Apple introduces a new iPhone, eager crowds line up in the predawn hours outside Apple stores hoping to be one of the first to get the latest.

My wife and I have never been in that crowd; we keep our phones until they will not work anymore.

I got my second “jab,” as the Brits call the COVID-19 vaccine, and the “jabber” was good. I did not feel a thing, nor did I experience any significant side effects.

Now, depending on whom you care to believe, I am either safe from the coronavirus … or I am not.

Navarre First Assembly of God (navarre1st.com) is soon to begin construction of a new facility on their current site, and the way it will be built is remarkable.

A team of retired tradespeople in their personal RVs will camp on the church grounds and perform much of the work.

In the musical, “The Music Man,” a slick traveling salesman concocts a scheme to sell musical instruments to the town of River City.

He presents himself as a band leader and a boys’ marching band as a defense against the corruption of youth.

They are virtually everywhere. Most of us have seen one, perhaps picked one up and read it. The Beatles even sang about where one could be found.

Gideon Bibles have been placed in the nightstands of hotel and motel rooms across America for over a century.

While the world’s attention is fixed on addressing the coronavirus, a team from Navarre First Assembly of God traveled to Togo, West Africa to address other needs there.

The church, in partnership with Operation Lift Up (www.operationliftup.com), has built and equipped a new pregnancy center to serve this country with its high rate of maternal deaths.

There are a few unique words and expressions in the Bible that have made their way into common English speech.

One of those words is “shibboleth,” which refers to a word, a mannerism, or a mode of dress that is peculiar to a group. It comes from an incident recorded in Judges 12, a conflict between two Israelite tribes, the Ephraimites and the Gileadites.

This past Sunday, a small group from Compass Community Church (compassefca.org), where I am the pastor, gathered before dawn at a picnic pavilion alongside Santa Rosa Sound for a sunrise service.

Our huddled group greeted one another with a subdued, “Happy Easter!” or “Christ is risen!” and the response, “He is risen indeed!” It was early and it was cold.