When my nephew, an Iraq war veteran, married recently his brother bought him a gift – an assault rifle. I was mortified. “John, why in the world would you buy David an assault rife?” I implored. “Uh, because he gave me one for my birthday,” John replied, as if the exchange of assault...

“Where is Christ for you right now?”  This question was posed at the 11pm Christmas Eve service at my parents’ church, after which we were encouraged to take a few moments of silence to reflect. Truth be told, Christ wasn’t forefront for me this season.  In fact, the only time I really thought...

First I hear about this great holiday gift idea (via JesusNeedsNewPR): Then Larry Shallenberger saved this figurine from almost being used in his church’s nativity set: Larry titled this image “Why Shepherds Need Jesus”: Larry and Jordan don’t want me to turn this picture into...

On Christmas Eve of 2006, I boarded a plane in Connecticut and flew home to Chicago.  My parents and siblings picked me up from the airport, and we drove to church for the Christmas Eve service. I had always hoped I’d be like Mary – a young woman who loved God, whose life took an extraordinary turn. ...

The first article we ran on this new site…or one of the first, anyway…was a diary of this years International Christian Retail Show in Denver. The opening speaker at this year’s convention was Josh McDowell.  I didn’t know who Josh McDowell was at the time, but I wasn’t...

Editor’s Note: In celebration of the release of, as Larry Shallenberger puts it, “Burnside writer, sage, and smart aleck” John Blase’s first book, here’s an interview between John and the enigmatic Thomas Marshfield. After you read it, go to Amazon.com or Powells or something...

Yesterday, Kristi Henson, a marketing executive at Thomas Nelson Publishers asked me to put together my Christmas wishlist. Apparently, Amazon.com is running a feature in which they’ve asked authors to list some items sold on Amazon we might want for Christmas. I think it’s their take on the “celebrity...

We have a Christmas tradition around these parts.  Every year, shortly after Thanksgiving, we re-post Burnside’s most popular article of all time: “The Abominable ‘O Holy Night’”.  Along with the Advent Conspiracy, this insanely awful little diddy gets us in the Christmas...

I had, subconsciously, edited Satan out of the Nativity accounts. It was an honest oversight; I wasn’t intentionally revising my theology to be cool, hip, and twentieth century. There was that time I was at the wrong end of an exorcism. And the Evangelical subculture had wore me out by promoting Satan...

I know. You still haven’t thrown out that fruit fly-infested jack-o-lantern and I’m offering you another Christmas meditation. By the time Black Friday rolls around you’ll wanting to weave the shopping flyers into a rope with which to hang either yourself or me. It won’t matter. Please...