Our church recently had communion called the Eucharist, Greek for “to give thanks.” The ritual reminded me of an experience I had in the European Study program that I completed for my history degree. When in Italy, our class visited the site of Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. Allied leaders had bombed many historic churches containing the works of master artists that either destroyed, or severely damaged, some.
Each year, I and several other popular international writers and speakers fly to Glen Rose, Texas, to give apologetics presentations at the Creation Evidence Museum. The sermons and lectures deal with the evidence for the Bible and other issues related to apologetics. Since to fly us out to Texas entails considerable expense and time, I asked my sponsors if visits to other churches while there would help make the trip more worthwhile.
‘Gospel’ is an old-English word meaning “good news,” specifically, in the Christian use, the good news about salvation. The Gospel includes two parts: God's revelation revealed in His words, the Bible, and His revelation revealed in His works, His creation (see Revelation 14:6-7). The Bible mentions over 120 species of animals and 206 plants, 95 of which are recognized by all contemporary researchers of the floras mentioned in the Bible. In seminary, a major part of the curriculum historically used to train ministers was the study of these 326 plants and animals.
I was recently invited to speak with Creation Expo at the First Baptist Church of Hammond, Indiana. The church, founded in 1887, is reportedly the largest Christian church in Indiana and the 7th largest in the United States. Megachurches have a reputation of being impersonal, resulting in visitors getting lost in the crowd. One of my main interests is, “why do some churches grow and others die?” One of my goals was to understand why First Baptist thrives.