I came to Christ through a parachurch organization as a teenager. Before that time, I had absolutely no church experience. I had attended Sunday school with a friend for a year when I was 9, but other than that, I knew nothing about how churches should operate.

However, when I became a Christian, attending a church became very important to me. I got involved in a low-key church ...

In Confessions, Augustine tells the conversion story of Marius Victorinus, an honored philosopher in ancient Rome whose statue stood in the Roman forum. Before his baptism as a Christian, he had vigorously defended the idolatrous Roman cults. After his study of the Scriptures, Victorinus was converted, though he did not immediately pursue membership in the Christian church. ...

Years ago when I served as an assistant prosecutor, I was approached by a few coworkers (on different occasions) who were working on cases where children were sexually abused by someone in the church. Prosecuting cases where children are abused are the toughest cases to prosecute, in my opinion. Children are among the most vulnerable members of our society, and someone taking ...

Great psychological thrillers, combined with innumerable episodes of crime drama, have given me a healthy appreciation of the dangers of picking up hitchhikers.

In sum: hitchhikers bad. First nicey nicey and uber-friendly. Then stabby stabby and a cold, shallow grave. Generally and basically, it's not the way I want to end my life. So up to this point, absolutely and categorically ...

Simone Halpin is director of women's care, part of the women's ministry team at historic Moody Church in Chicago. She sat down with Gifted for Leadership to tell us about an inspiring new ministry to women escaping sex trafficking in her city.

Simone, tell us about Naomi's House.

Naomi's House is a new ministry of Moody Church in Chicago. It will be a suburban home for women ...

I talk too much.

It's a habit. I talktoofast and talktoomuch.

Sometimes I could stand to zip it. I'm working on it.

However, I hate to contribute to what has been a common refrain in society–a common refrain also in some churches. The refrain goes like this: women might need to PIPE DOWN already.

God's opinion on the matter appears to have a refrain more like this: Do not neglect ...

We hear it said often, "There's no "I" in team." Yes, that's a fact, but unfortunately some clichés are said so much they lose their power. We know team means working together effectively for the common good, a joint project with shared vision and goals. But the question is; do you really care about working together for a team goal–especially in ministry? Do you really ...

My husband and I couldn't eat or sleep. We couldn't think clearly enough to work and yet couldn't imagine being home with the walls caving in around us. We had cried until we were surprised there were any tears left. The news we had received was devastating. We found ourselves in one of those time-stands-still experiences that we had seen happen to others but never expected ...

The outreach team at our church had a daunting task. We were responsible for attracting the unchurched, making newcomers feel welcome, and helping reach out to our community in practical ways. All of us were enthusiastic about doing just that, but not all of us agreed on the best methods to accomplish such a herculean task.

Robert* was a man who loved charts. He immediately ...