FrontLine
The Strategy of Multiplication
Mike and Gail Mestler Throughout Kenya grows a flowering tree with striking orange-red blossoms appropriately named the “flame tree.” The flame tree is indigenous to Africa, where it easily grows to a height of fifty feet and produces many clusters of flowers on the tips of its branches. A flame tree in full blossom is…
Read MoreLeong, A Man Without A Language
Bob McLain I have been a communicator all my life. Not only have I been a communicator of the gospel at home and on the mission field, but I speak through the marvels of sign language to the deaf. Through all this, never have I been so burdened and bewildered at how to communicate as…
Read MoreWho Needs Armor Anyway?
Gary T. Fisher At the time of the attacks of September 11th I, along with all the other chaplains of Fort Jackson, South Carolina, were in Charleston at a profession development conference. We all immediately began watching in disbelief what was happening on the TV screens— America had been attacked! Our lives and careers changed…
Read MoreOur Courageous Missionary Colleagues
Timothy W. Berrey The plane lumbered down the runway of the Bangkok airport, eventually found its wings, and I was off to my second Muslim-majority country. There was something different, though, about this trip. For one thing, it was my first mission trip to the Middle East. More importantly, it was my first time to…
Read MoreFrontLine: Filipinos–Our Courageous Missionary Colleagues
Filipinos–Our Courageous Missionary Colleagues The March/April 2015 edition of FrontLine We are delighted to present an edition of FrontLine devoted to the mission field of the Philippines. The authors of the main articles in this edition are all serving in one way or another in that region of the world. It is easy to become…
Read MoreAre We Truly Missions-Minded?
Thomas B. Alvis Jr. Where there is no vision, the people perish (Prov. 29:18). Andrew Murray in 1901 wondered “why, with millions of Christians in the world, the army of missionaries fighting the hosts of darkness is so small.” His answer is—lack of heart. “The enthusiasm of the kingdom is missing because there is so…
Read MoreThe Abortion Debate
Ted Harris To many Christians today, abortion is a settled issue and not worth discussing with others. Paul’s approach to a similar issue of his day, the “unknown god” of Mars’ Hill, was quite different. He had a tough audience which included Stoics and Epicureans. What were the results of his message? Some believed, some…
Read MoreStranded in the Brazilian Desert
Bill Griffin Brazilians call the semi-arid desert of Brazil its “wild west.” Cowboys ride horseback, and oxcarts squeak along at their slow pace. This area, known as the Sertao, is populated with a large group of small towns and is fanatically Roman Catholic. The people show great respect to the priest, bowing before him and…
Read MoreWorship According to Jesus
Kevin Schaal American worship is as fad-oriented as present American society. The slickly marketed, highenergy, fast-moving approach to worship, so popular in the 1980s and `90s, is giving way to the calmer, highly sensory, Montessori-style worship of the Emergent Church movement. The problem with all these worship styles—even traditional forms—is that worship and church leaders…
Read MoreFatal Attraction: What Entertainment Is Doing to Our Youth
Mike Ascher In 1985 author and educator Neil Postman wrote the book Amusing Ourselves to Death. In his opening paragraphs Postman states that “at different times in our history, different cities have been the focal point of a radiating American spirit.” For example, he points out that before the American Revolution “Boston was the center…
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