Author: Erick Neuman
What does success in your job look like? Is it advancing in your career to higher positions? Is it earning more money? Is it making a difference in the world? Would God ever call you to something knowing that your efforts would fail? I’ve often found these questions to be interesting thoughts to ponder. God called Moses to stand up to Pharaoh, but then hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he wouldn’t give in until enduring the various plagues. Ultimately, I think most of us would consider Moses’ “career” successful—though he definitely had his ups and downs along the way. I’ve…
2020 has been a year of peaks and valleys for Jordan Feliz. Riding high from the release of 2018’s Future, the California native expected to roll into 2020 with the release of a new collection of songs and to get back out on the road. But then the coronavirus pandemic hit and everything … stopped. Instead of sharing his music with adoring audiences near and far, Feliz found himself homebound and unemployed. Despite the feelings of uncertainty that have come so naturally due to COVID-19, he dove into the songwriting process harder than ever. The end result is a new collection…
A Christian summer camp in Colorado is suing over a gender policy it says could shut it down. Camp IdRaHaJe in Bailey, Colorado, is asking a court to allow it to follow its sincerely held religious beliefs and separate campers by sex and not gender identity, The Denver Post reported. The camp, which has been licensed in Colorado since 1995 and derives its name from the song “I’d Rather Have Jesus,” has operated for decades, dating back to 1948, and hosts thousands of children in its week-long program every summer. The issue centers on state regulations governing gender, with the camp…
Being home with our beloved (or anyone) all day, every day can feel un-natural, no matter how deep our God-given love runs. Suddenly there’s no outside entertainment, no friends to socialize with, no activities to share, and the list goes on. Whether you’re newly-married, a veteran couple, or somewhere in between, being homebound daily forces some unexpected relational adjustments and calls for major creativity in the romance department. Here’s a few to try. Have Delusional Date Nights It may feel ridiculous meeting your husband (collared shirt and cologne, a must) at 8 p.m. in the candle-lit dining room every Saturday…
The Bible is full of advice on how to handle money. Every business owner can (and should) build their business on these essential principles straight from the Word of God. As you read through these Bible verses and associated principles, ask yourself where you see room for improvement in your own business dealings. 1. CONDUCT YOUR BUSINESS WITH HUMILITY. Be realistic about your human nature. Everyone makes mistakes, and I’d venture to guess you’ve made a few. Humility causes us to listen to our customers, to hear their concerns, and to address their problems. Having a large ego won’t get…
Point of Grace is inviting you and your family to forget (for just a little while) how different, how difficult this year has been, and to join them in celebrating the Christmas season. For A Point of Grace Christmas, the illustrious music group has scaled down their usual concert hall capacity and traded it for an intimate living room gathering with an audience of family and friends. Despite the smaller venue, the women’s powerhouse vocals still deliver a soul-stirring punch. Not only are classic Christmas anthems and beloved originals like “Not That Far From Bethlehem” and “Immanuel” included in the special,…
Up until the age of 16, Heidi Barr did not believe in Jesus, that is until she met Him face-to-face after a terrible horseback riding accident. “I knew him immediately. Every cell in my soul knew everything about who He was. I should not have seen Jesus. Why should I see Jesus? My father told me Jesus was the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on mankind,” she recalled in a recent interview with Jews for Jesus. “[Yet] I knew Him. I have known Him my entire life and I love Him. I have loved Him with everything in me,” Barr said. Barr,…
We all want to be connected with people, and most of us desire connections that cultivate deep, heartfelt engagement. How is it possible to create relationships that bind us together and also withstand the differences in our identities? How can we move beyond superficial encounters in order to form meaningful harmonies that outlast the discordant pressures of our society? In my new book, The Influential Christian: Learning to Lead from the Heart, I suggest that practices of empathy are our primary means for creating heart-to-heart connections. Furthermore, empathy can be learned, developed, and applied to most of our situations—even those…
We have a lot of challenges in our world right now, and worry is one of the most prominent ones people deal with. I think it’s one of the worst because worrying about challenges doesn’t do much to resolve them, and most of the time it only makes them worse. Society is also showing us that worrying is dangerous, since anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the United States, and one of the key ingredients in anxiety disorders is worry. Living a life of worry has become so common, we’ve begun to consider it normal, even for…
It’s said some cooks are born, not made, and Anne Grimes agrees. “I think I was born with a pan and a spoon in my hand, ” laughs Anne. “By the time I was nine, I was baking cakes for neighbors and had a business going.” Anne’s love of cooking continued after she married. She and her husband started a local bakery. But after a few years, jobs in her town were scarce, and the people there moved out. “All of a sudden, the town just dried up. And so, there was very little business there. So, we decided to…