Testimony

This is a story about the unfolding of an 85-year-old prophecy. Modesty forbids his telling the story about himself, but I believe we need to be each other’s champions. So let me tell you about my friend, Fred. This is a very inspiring story, a uniquely Pentecostal drama that started in the 1930s in Ukraine. At that time there was a prophetic word among the Pentecostal believers telling them to leave because of an impending famine, even though weather and crop yields had never been better....

Perspective Quit Overthinking It

Whether I am talking to my college students or to seasoned Christians, teenagers or older adults, I’ve noticed that many Christians experience angst concerning God’s will. They brood over questions such as “What is God’s will for my life?” and “Am I currently in God’s will?” Instead of overthinking such questions, perhaps we ought to focus less on whether we’re in the exact place God wants us to be and more on what we’re doing whe...

Everyday Thoughts Midnight Prayer: Tuesday, 17 November 2015

Oh God, Where do Syrian children sleep? Only you know each troubled bed. Mine are safe under quilts and treasured blankies, wrapped in the security of home. Mine are sleeping deeply, even as I wrestle with the midnight thoughts and images I can't escape. Don’t let me escape them. Don’t let me forget them. The world is a broken puzzle, with too many pieces missing. Blown to bits. What do I do? What do we do? I don’t know the answers to the questions in their eyes, the cries in t...

On The Issue One Beautiful Life at a Time

In 2009, Marion Cozens established a refuge for homeless, pregnant women. She named it W.I.N.G.S. (for Waiting, Investing, Nurturing, Growing and Soaring) Maternity Home. Her intention was to rebuild broken women into healthy moms. Marion, a former businesswoman and single parent of four daughters, renovated her personal residence, sought formal group home status, and then began sharing the home’s mission with local churches, businesses and community leaders. The mission of W.I.N.G.S...

Lifestyle A Beautiful Life

I’ve been thinking about what C. S. Lewis said when his dear friend, Charles Williams, died: “Lots, lots of pain, but not a particle of depression or resentment.” I know what he meant. While I have found myself crying at the oddest moments this week, I do not despair at my mother’s passing. Instead, there is something strangely wondrous about this moment. The great Scottish writer George MacDonald said.... Click here to subscribe so that you can receive the full con...

Your Story Was Blind, but Now I See

I considered myself a lucky man. At 47 years old, I had a great career, a wonderful wife, three healthy boys, and a beautiful home. Our family was financially very comfortable. I felt secure about where I was and where I was heading. Life was good. Life was very good. And then came July 15, 2015. We’d left for Florida that morning, my family and I, for a well-earned vacation on the beach. Upon our arrival, I received news that my mother had suffered a terrible accident back in Montreal. I...

Perspective God Has Other Plans

My father, the late Pastor E. R. Milley (1911-1983), told me the story of being so ill at one point in his life that someone, thinking he was dead, actually measured him for a coffin! But God had other plans. In 1950, after eight years and five months of being an invalid with an incurable heart disease, my father was at death’s door. In his journal he wrote: I heard my dad say, “He’s dying.” They decid...

Interview 7 QUESTIONS for Robert McAffee

Robert McAffee is a Canadian landscape artist. During his lifetime, he has worked as a sign painter, a photographer, in retail, and in banking. He began painting full time in 2009. McAffee credits his opportunity to create art and his every success to God. Robert and his family attend Whitby Christian Assembly in Whitby, Ont. Q1: Was church part of your family’s regular routine when you were growing up? I was raised in a Christian home. My father was a fourth-generation Christian. When he ...

Your Story The Holy Spirit and Me

I grew up in an evangelical church which taught that certain New Testament experiences—miracles, healing, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and the gifts of the Spirit—ceased at the end of the Book of Acts. The leadership believed that any of these manifestations were now either “of the flesh” or a “counterfeit of Satan.” My first experience in a Pentecostal church was in 1974. A young lady who attended Kennedy Road Tabernacle (KRT) in Brampton, Ont., had come t...

Your Story A Tangled, Beautiful Mess

One evening recently, our three kids and I sat around the table drinking tea—like a good Russian family. They were telling stories about the shenanigans they got into at the orphanage, the constant fist fights the boys had, how the older girls would gang up on the younger ones, and the countless ways they tried to avoid the mean orphanage workers. There was lots of laughter. But as they talked, the look in their eyes told me that they didn’t want to go back. They may not fully unders...

On The Season Elizabeth

She shares my middle name, but not much else. She was born into a family of priests and was the wife of one. Most of her life’s years were behind her, though she had no child to take care of her and her aging husband Zechariah. The first thing we know after being introduced to her is that she is righteous in the sight of God, a blameless keeper of all the commands and requirements of the Lord. So we know it wasn’t her sin that kept her barren, though that’s what most of the mar...

Perspective The Odds of God

When the truck in which you’re a passenger hits black ice and flips into a snow-filled ditch, the first words you’d want to hear might be: “I’m a nurse. I’m here to help you.” Cory and Lynsey Jones, my son and daughter-in-law, were delayed in leaving Saskatoon for a 2014 family Christmas celebration in Delmas, Saskatchewan. They were just east of North Battleford when a black pickup truck accelerated past them. A hundred yards down the road, the driver was try...

Lifestyle My Kids Go to Public School—and I’m OK With That

I do admit that when it was time for my first-born to go to school, I really wanted her to attend a private Christian school so she would be “safe.” I spent a lot of time praying for a miracle—that God would provide the funds and open the doors so that she could put on a uniform and get a good Christian education. But the doors never opened and the funds never arrived because God had better miracles in store. Miracles. Plural. Miracle #1: More Faith It is a leap of faith t...

On The Issue Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus presents a gripping and deeply personal account of Nabeel Qureshi’s journey to faith in Jesus. Qureshi’s story of family, friends and faith, intertwined with insights into Islam, helped me to understand the Muslim world in new ways and to see the powerful ways in which God is meeting seekers today. Qureshi, a medical doctor by training, began his study of the gospel in order to challenge it. In so doing he joined the ranks of Dr. Simon Greenleaf, C. S. Le...

Lifestyle Tell Me About Yourself

Hardly a day goes by when we don’t read about another downsizing or layoff. Thousands of unemployed youth, older workers, new immigrants, and people with disabilities will be seeking jobs this year and attending multiple interviews. When job applicants arrive at an employment interview, they usually shake hands with one or more interviewers, sit in a chair that has been reserved for them, and respond to polite comments about the weather and traffic. Then the interviewer sits back com...

Perspective A Distinction to Consider

To many people he was a pastor and missionary. I knew him as a mentor and friend. Donald Krohn died in 1997 of ALS, a cruel, incurable, slow-moving disease that renders its victims physically immobile while keeping them mentally alert. For the record, if faith is the key that unlocks physical healing, Don Krohn should have been healed. Apparently the disease didn’t receive that memo and, almost in defiance of the prayers offered in faith, it pressed on unflinchingly. It was on its own cloc...

Lifestyle Doing Church with Kids

Our church is busting at the seams with kids. A lot of them are under the age of seven. Long, Canadian winters, right? Whatever the explanation, having a young, active family presents some interesting challenges when it comes to getting involved in the life of a local church. The good news is that it’s very possible. Let me offer four reasons why I believe young families need to be connected and involved in a local church, and four ways to make it happen. Reason number one: You are a part ...

Perspective Re-examining the Root

Two of Beshir Kamel’s brothers were among the 21 Christians executed by ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) terrorists in February 2015. Everyone involved in that horrific event, both victims and perpetrators, was of Arab origin. When it comes to the Middle East we presume to know the “good guys” from the “bad guys.” Aren’t all Middle East conflicts the result of an Old Testament prophecy related to the descendants of Ishmael? Aren’t Ishmael’s ...

Lifestyle The Grip of Fear

By the time our children hit their teen years, we parents have earned pro status in dealing with their physical health. We know how to treat their colds and their road rashes, and we know the best parking spots at the ER if those video stunts should fail. But when it comes to our teen’s failing mental health, we can feel helpless. “I am desperately reaching out to you for help for my 14-year-old daughter. She is suffering from anxiety and panic attacks. She is very afraid, ...

On The Issue Financial Abuse of Seniors

When I was a child, I remember my mother pointing to a couple in our church and whispering their sad story in my ear. This elderly couple had given all their savings to their son and his wife as a down payment on a home, with the promise to the parents that they would have a place to live. However, once the deal was sealed, the parents were turned out of their son’s home. This left the elderly couple almost destitute, living on small pensions and with no other savings for backup. I could t...

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From our General Superintendent Aligned for Mission

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