Christian Resources, Winter 2021

WANDER IN WONDER

Take a winter walk.  Notice the sights and sounds around you.  Pray.

 

LISTEN & LEARN

Join the free, lecture and cultural arts January Series from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI from January 6, 2021 to January 22, 2021. In its 34th year, this leading series is completely virtual in 2021. Check out these national speakers and their books, including Andy Crouch, Tara Westover...

Registration is required but free in order to receive the link for each presentation. All presentations are live at 12:30 to 1:30 EST. You can also listen anytime that day; then the link times out.

Go to: calvin.edu/january Click: Register

WATCH The 2019/2020 story of Jesus, free on YouTube:  The Chosen.  Season One.  All 8 Full Episodes
Watch for more in 2021 @ Crestview, facilitated by Loel McIntosh.

NEW TESTAMENT BIBLE STUDY GUIDES
Looking for a blend of readable but scholarly background information and discussion questions for yourself or your Bible study group?  Why not use the eBook series in Hoopla from your public library,  
N. T. Wright FOR EVERYONE BIBLE STUDY GUIDE SERIES.

Here’s how it works.   If you have a library card for the MidPointe Library System in Butler County, OH, create a free Hoopla account from their website.  Download the app on your device. Then search and download the guide that interests you.

READ 

Christianity Today’s 2021 Book Awards, “Our picks for the books most likely to shape evangelical life, thought, and culture.” December 14, 2020

LOCAL CHRISTIAN RADIO

93.3.  WAKW

93.7   WFCJ

104.3 WNLT

Contact the Adult Christian Team @ Crestview Church to learn more.

Parenting at Christmas

Our lives take surprising turns.  We don't know what lies ahead.  This is especially true in parenting.

We idealize what having a baby will be like.  A couple starts down that road.  Sometimes birth is textbook easy.  Sometimes parenting begins as a prolonged, expensive, frustrating bout with infertility.  Sometimes tears flow over a miscarriage or stillbirth.  Eventually, miraculously a child is born and joins our family.

We relate to the Christmas story of a young couple, Mary and Joseph, traveling while pregnant.  Conditions were difficult as the couple broke cultural norms.  The trip was risky and lodging was hard to find.  Jesus, their firstborn son was born in Bethlehem, far from home.  They learned to trust God and one another even as shepherds, angels, and magi arrived to rejoice over their son's birth.  

Parenting stretched their faith, as it does ours.  As parents, we act out of love and with courage when called upon.  Jesus was delivered in a stable in a strange city.   (Lk 2:7)  Shortly thereafter the new family fled to Egypt to escape Herod's threat to kill their son, seen as a threat to the throne.  (Matt. 2:13).  During his teen years, the couple panicked when Jesus went missing after celebrating Passover in Jerusalem.  (Lk 2:40-42)  Ultimately, Mary suffered grievously as she watched her son die as a criminal on a Roman cross.  

We mature and change through learning to love a new life.  As demands are made upon us, we learn to sacrifice and serve, to persevere and  provide.  We serve as safety nets when life circumstances endanger our beloved children.  

Why?  When we create new life and watch over a child, we experience blessing.  Our days as parents are filled with deep joy and rich memories which dispel the fear.  Faith in the future with God wins out.

Take a moment to listen to  Mary Did You Know.  Voxtave feat. Mark Lowry. Nov. 4, 2016