Comments on: The Church That Keeps On Giving

By: Harold Long

Harold Long — Thu, 04 Apr 2019 11:50:41 +0000

Dear Philip,

Fantastic article & wonderful Kingdom demonstration for all of us to inspire to.

Shalom,
Harold Lomg

By: Deb

Deb — Thu, 07 Sep 2017 18:34:18 +0000

Crying my eyes out at this one about the church on LaSalle Street.

In the days before I became a Christian, I lived for 5 years in California with film students and in a lot of ways they were a generous and not judgmental bunch. There was room on the couch for the person who burned his brain cells out on drugs and there was time to listen to the man who had become so OCD that he spent his time stalking starlets, instead of using his advanced degree. There were only two Born Again Christians I interacted with out there. One was a collector of everything NAZI and scared people a little bit, but was a nice enough guy. The other was the equipment person at the film school and he was a highly authoritative angry sometimes, nice at other times, sweet with his two young sons types of guy. He ended up working briefly with Oliver Stone and killed his wife with an ax, burned his house down with his daughter alive in it and shot himself in the head, leaving his two young sons alive. I wasn’t living out there anymore when it happened, but my non-Christian friends talked about the nice funeral service and that made me happy.

They didn’t demonize the man. It impressed my friend, who still has been judged enough by Christians that it will take a miracle for him to ever come to Christ.

I have been negative, in front of you, because my mind has been so frustrated, but you have given me stories of grace. May I shift right now and focus there so I don’t go astray.

By: Brian Skar

Brian Skar — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 18:51:47 +0000

So few Christians want to operate on the front lines. They hang back and socialize with other Christians and throw rocks at “sinners.” It is great to see a church on the front lines, embracing the lost and living large. I am going to Chicago in May for the Moody Institute Pastors Conference. I am going to look up this church while I am there. God wants heroic followers.

By: Allen MacLean

Allen MacLean — Sat, 03 Jan 2015 18:04:05 +0000

Just finished reading “Vanishing Grace” so this story is so appropriate. In the book, you ask “why do Christians stir up hostile feelings – and what if anything should we do about it?” This example would be part of the answer but let us not be too concerned with favourable PR. Despite all His grace, Jesus experienced the most extreme hostility!

By: Chuck Kent

Chuck Kent — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 15:17:12 +0000

I think Laura (OK, Pastor Truax) is right on the money, you should pardon the expression, with the aim to get people to “have some skin in the game.” Isn’t that exactly what God did the first Christmas? Demonstrate that he has some “skin” in the game? How can we do less (although we/I so frequently do)?

Just one amendment to your post… having had the privilege to be in your LaSalle Sunday School classes, your “common” approach to reaching the varied congregation yielded uncommonly good results. But then, I recall someone else who could speak to crowds of the “common” people in parables without dumbing down the truth.