One of the biggest shocks was how cold it was. Don’t get me wrong—we were happy to leave the sweltering heat of North Carolina for a few days, but we were not prepared for temperatures that dropped into the 30s. Especially since the houses we stayed in were not heated. But we were in South … Continue reading Mission trips change us
Tag: Church
When I was a teenager in Winston-Salem, someone laced chunks of meat with poison and threw them to some of my neighbors’ dogs. The dogs died and the owners cried and the rest of us were shocked. Who would commit such a senseless act? What had those dogs done to deserve death? That was 40 … Continue reading We cannot remain silent about this
I was intrigued by the article on the front page of the Times-News last Sunday. It was about church attendance in North Carolina in general and Alamance County in particular. One thing that made me laugh out loud was the pie chart that measured church attendance in our state in 2014. Forty percent of us … Continue reading Don’t Be in the Two Percent
It was the winter of 1998, and the four oldest Fox children had walked from where we lived in downtown Graham over to the Pine Cemetery, pulling their sleds behind them. There was a great hill for sledding in the cemetery that attracted the kids in the neighborhood whenever we had a “real” winter. The … Continue reading Do you believe this?
Hippocrates, the Greek physician from whom we get the Hippocratic Oath, said that there are seven stages of life, and the next to last starts at age 56. He called that person, Old one. And that stage, he said, is marked by perfection of judgment and reason. Hey, all of us over 55 could tell … Continue reading Needed: Spiritually vibrant elders
Paul gives strong encouragement for pastors in Titus 2 that all would be wise to heed, whether you are a leader in a local church or not. First, he is to teach what accords with sound doctrine. In short, he teaches the Bible. That is the first and most important responsibility of a minister of … Continue reading Be someone worth imitating
J. Mark Fox 