church Archives

Birds of a Feather – #2

I originally posted this post several years ago. With Easter approaching, I thought it appropriate to repost it today.

Here’s one from the travel file.

During the last twenty years I’ve had the opportunity to visit more than seventy countries. I noticed there’s a rather unusual feature found on the churches in the Baltic States, France, Germany, Hungry, and the Netherlands among other countries in the region.

Upon close inspection, you’ll discover that many churches don’t have a cross at the top of their steeple, spire, or bell tower.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith April 1, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Ripples of Life

If you toss a pebble into the still, glass-like water of a pond, what do you get? Ripples scurrying across the surface of the water constantly moving in an outward, circular fashion from the point of impact. These gentle ridges of water form an ever expanding ring of motion as each wavelet multiplies the reach of the initial splash.

Since we’re in the middle of the Sanctity of Human Life week, let me apply that pebble-in-the-pond phenomenon to our pro-life work here at Focus on the Family.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, pro-life January 21, 2010 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

What if Jesus Never Lived?

What would life be like today if Jesus never lived?

For a moment, let’s set aside the implications of eternity and consider the impact that the life of Jesus has had—and continues to have—here on Earth. Several obvious things come to mind: without Jesus there would be no New Testament in our Bibles, no Christmas festivities with the associated tradition of gift-giving, no celebration of Easter, no Catholic or Protestant churches dotting the landscape, and I think it’s safe to say that gold, silver, wooden, or diamond-studded crosses wouldn’t be sold as popular jewelry accessories.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith September 24, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Hope in a Box

Food and hope go together.

That perspective dawned on me last weekend while speaking at a Children’s Hunger Fund charitable dinner at the Reagan Library. Based on my personal experience and what I’ve observed in my travels, I’d say this insight is especially true for children. Hunger has a way of devouring their hope and robbing their dreams. Conversely, even in the wake of a natural disaster, if there’s food on the table there’s hope that tomorrow might just be better.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, events, kids May 1, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Deficit of Family Values Impacts Financial Markets

If you are like most Americans, you’ve watched your retirement savings shrink with the plunging stock market. You might be one of the hundreds of thousands without work searching for a job as unemployment soars. And the forecast out of Washington, D.C. these days says we’re in for tough times. America isn’t the only country rocked by such economic turbulence. Countries around the world are in the same boat.

Which is why the current global economic crisis was the hot topic at last week’s G-20 summit of world leaders in London.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: church, faith, family, finances April 7, 2009 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Reflections on the Election

I’d like to offer some perspective on the election of Barack Obama. While I happen to have a deep difference of opinion with him regarding the sanctity of human life, traditional marriage, and religious freedoms among other things, I’d like to take a stab at explaining why the election of America’s first black president is important for our nation.

The roots of what I’m about to say can be traced back to my first visit to South Africa back in 1991.

Topics: Current Events Tags: church, events, faith, news November 8, 2008 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

iPhone Fever

Today’s big news, at least in the cell phone industry, is the release of Apple’s much anticipated second generation iPhone. To say that enthusiasm was high for the new gadget would be an understatement. Take the hundreds of folks waiting in a line outside of a store on Fifth Avenue in New York for half the night. The line literally encircled the block.

Stories of iPhone fever abound. Eager to lay hands on Apple’s new and improved phone, buyers from Tokyo to Atlanta camped out overnight to be among the first to snap up the faster and more feature-packed device.

Topics: Current Events Tags: church, events, pop culture, technology July 11, 2008 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Sad News…

You most likely have heard by now that Dr. Jerry Falwell passed away this week. The media has covered the event extensively, as they should. Dr. Falwell was an inspiring figure who made people think. You may not have agreed with him on everything, but he said it from his heart.

Dr. Dobson was on Larry King Live last night, and he was asked if Dr. Falwell hated people? Dr. Dobson simply turned the question back to Larry King and asked him if he ever heard Jerry Falwell speak with hatred?

Topics: Current Events Tags: church, news May 16, 2007 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura

Hello Everyone…

Well, this is my first blog entry. Yes, the first ever! And what a wonderful topic to kick off with…orphan care. This week, Focus on the Family hosted over one hundred organizations on our campus to discuss how we, as the Christian community, can do more to help children. Do you know that Christians have a rich tradition of being involved in community outreach?

The most vivid example for me was during the Roman Empire, when a small group of Christians, numbering about 3% of the population, began to save babies from the river.

Topics: Family and Home Tags: adoption, church, parenting May 11, 2007 by Jim Daly with Paul Batura