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By Dave Almack Abridged from https://faithlit.wordpress.com/ by permission. I was sitting by my mom’s hospital bedside when she looked at me and said, “God doesn’t make mistakes”. Despite several days in the hospital and lack of sleep, this was her perspective. A few moments after that comment, she looked at me again and said, “Some...

By Ward Shope There is a mythical phase of married life when your children are out of the house on their own and your parents have not yet reached the stage where they need your regular attention. In this phase, the “empty nest” becomes nirvana, where lovebirds can date their spouse with as few (or...

By Rae Barnes The lyrics of the song “Oceans Deep” are running through my mind often these days. It is played so often on K-Love that it could just become background noise: a mundane hum that you hear over and over, day after day. This isn’t too unlike my life right now. I have four...

By Melanie Kauffman Among New Life’s many ministries is the young adult ministry called Crossroads. We meet every Tuesday night for worship, prayer, and to study God’s word. Over the years we’ve also had nerf battles, bonfires, holiday parties, retreats, camping trips, and more movie and game nights than I can count. As we often...

By Linda Ruth Paskell This most recent New Life Women’s Retreat was the first one I have been to in over 20 years! Some things never change. The warm welcome, the creativity, the worship and teaching were all so reflective of the gospel warmth and hospitality that New Life has always been known for. The...

By Anna Morrow In March my family visited my brother in Santa Monica, right outside of LA. As he drove us around, we marveled at the green leaves and beautiful houses. One day he pointed out a narrow set of stairs. I saw about twenty steps that led straight up to even more steps hidden...

By Anita Anderson I’ve never been disciplined at writing in journals. Yes, as a teen I wrote in a diary…for a while. When traveling as an adult, I recorded the sights and events of my days…for a while. But I’ve never felt comfortable writing down my thoughts and ideas. Like my journal writing, I haven’t...

By Ward Shope At the Session (elder) Retreat this last weekend, our facilitators referred to the leadership transition that occurred from Moses to Joshua. Imagine traveling for 40 years under a leader who regularly works miracles, resolves conflict, leads through difficulties, makes hard decisions and is patient beyond belief. And then, just as you are...

By George Caruso “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” – Exodus 20:9 Could you imagine our society if God set up a rhythm of six days’ rest and one day work? Of course we see just the opposite pattern established in creation. God is introduced to us in Scripture as a...

By Melanie Kauffman I have a distinct memory from a weekend retreat I attended as a junior-higher. Someone had set up a blackboard with two halves: “Things we want to talk about this weekend, ” and “Let’s not talk about this.” Naturally, someone wrote “sex” in big capital letters in the “not” half. The room...

By Jane Highley Last month, I attended a Harvest USA workshop called “Women Helping Women.” I knew that, as a youth group volunteer, I should attend. But I also had a few other reasons to go. But when I arrived to the packed room upstairs, I wondered why all these women were here. What were...

By Todd Hill “Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs can only come out of great trials.” -Smith Wigglesworth On January 30th, thirteen of my Sr. High student leaders showed up to NLD for a full-day retreat from 9 am to 5:30 pm. As...