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Adoption and the Church as Family
By Dalas Mueller Today is Gotcha Day for our sweet daughter, Hope. That is, the one year anniversary of my husband busting her out of her orphanage and making her our daughter forever. I didn’t expect to be celebrating today sitting across the room from my sweet girl as she lies in a hospital bed in the ICU, fighting off an infection and awaiting her third brain surgery since coming home. But… I wouldn’t trade her for the world! And I could not be more thankful that she is in our arms for comfort and love as she faces her earthly trials. Other than God Himself, there is one entity…
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The Elephant in the Pews
By Amanda Markel There’s an elephant in the living room in some of our churches and it’s time to stop ignoring it. That elephant is the former church workers in our midst. The “elephant in the corner” metaphor doesn’t apply to every former church worker. There is a group of retirees, especially pastors, that receive a place of honor in our congregations, such as the pastors emeriti. They who have served many successful, although often hard, years and are now retired, but willing to help out from time to time, are not the people I’m talking about. The former church workers that I’m talking about are often younger, although not…
