Following a noteworthy career in magazine, curriculum, book and Bible publishing, Dean Merrill is now concentrating on indepen­dent editorial work. Some of his projects are solo writing, many are collaborations with well-known personalities, and still others involve overall directing of complex editorial projects.
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• Recycling the Secular - From barroom ballads to German jigs, hymn writers have taken sacred lyrics and matched them to the music of their day…. read more »
• The Clumsiness of Laws - When we get frustrated with today’s culture—the sleaze, the hostility toward religion, the broken promises, the disrespect for human life—we’re prone to want a legislature somewhere to ban such behavior…. read more »
• Let Someone Else Help - I am always surprised at my storehouse of reasons not to get involved with someone else’s need…. read more »
• Good Morning, Isaiah - We can dismiss the morning devotional time as a throwback to decades past, even an obligation of legalism, or we can rediscover its value today…. read more »
• Bible Translations: It Doesn’t Matter What You “Like” - Have you noticed that Bible translations even have their own Facebook pages now? The NIV, the NLT, the ESV, the NASB and others are busily telling their stories and collecting tens of thousands of “likes” from their fans. They’re all getting whupped, however, by the venerable King James Version, which has nearly 1.8 million…. read more »
• So Sorry - About five weeks ago I wrote a post here about finding the will to forgive those who offend us, belittle us, or make us look bad in the eyes of our friends. I told the story of the former Nazi prison guard who approached one of his victims, Corrie ten Boom, after World War II… read more »
• What’s the Main Attraction? - Unchurched people aren’t all that interested in slick performance and jolly socializing; they already know where to find those horizontal things. What they yearn for is something upward…. read more »
• Avoiding the Iceberg - I confess I’m mystified these days by an odd crossover of opinion: more and more Christians seem to be trying to make ethical room for drinking … while at the same time secular authorities are warning and worrying about this society’s rampant problem with alcohol…. read more »
• Whatever Happened to Group Prayer? - I’m talking about the entire congregation “going vertical,” disregarding their neighbors to the left and right in order to lift up their hearts and minds simultaneously to the Lord above…. read more »
• Hope Amid the Craziness - People often say, “I don’t want to get my hopes up.” Yes! Get them up! … read more »
• Making the Most of an Imperfect Church - There’s no point wasting a decade or two looking for perfection…. read more »
• Can Any Good Thing Come Out of Washington? - We Americans have become a society that despises its government. Bumper stickers and wisecracks abound…. read more »