Many moons ago, a youth pastor friend shared with me one of the greatest and most simple ideas to raise money for ministry. He called it Club 316. Basically, he recruited members of the congregation to support the youth ministry by pledging to give $3.16 per week for a year. You might think that doesn’t seem like enough to do anything. You’d be surprised.
A common question: “Do you have any children?” I have asked this question of people SO many times myself. It’s a way to start a conversation, a way to get to know more about someone, a regular social question. I always thought it was a simple question, one that is easy for anyone to answer; yet now, I have come to realize that for many people, this is anything but a simple question.
The rise of the internet has created a perfect storm for growing numbers of men to become addicted. It is available. It is anonymous. I suspect no other generation of men – or their pastors – had such a collision of forces that are the same time both irresistible and destructive.
Justification by grace through faith is central to the gospel. In this Seven Minute Seminary, Matt O’Reilly shows how the beauty of this doctrine does not just lie in what it erases from the past, rather, it highlights the bringing together of persons to God in Jesus Christ.
