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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• Well Done, Thou Good and Faithful Parent - It’s hard to know when you should stop being a parent and start being a friend…. read more »
• My Right to Gripe - The contemporary style, you know, is simply I’ve paid my money, bought my ticket, and now I get to sound off about everything that’s wrong…. read more »
• What about Speaking in Tongues? - I can assure you that the practice does not give you warts, make your hair fall out, or fry your brain…. read more »
• Stampeding to Tomorrow - “Busy” has become the modern shibboleth—a word adults just have to say. It’s the only acceptable reply when asked what you’ve been up to…. read more »
• Energized, or Drained? - On a hot day in Samaria, Jesus said something odd to his disciples as they returned from a quick trip to the sandwich shop…. 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 »
• Confessions of a Poor Salesman - read more »
• Is Baptism Optional? - The question is about more than getting your hair wet in public…. 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 »
• Old Enough to Know Better - Throughout the ages, it has been the task of older and wiser heads to encourage the young, to hold them steady in moments of anxiety, to affirm their talents and to bolster their shaky knees…. read more »
• Looking for a Loophole - W. C. Fields, the famous comedian and actor who spun such punch lines as “I once spent a year in Philadelphia, I think it was on a Sunday” and “I certainly do not drink all the time; I have to sleep, you know,” was a confirmed atheist. When he finally lay dying (of cirrhosis of… 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 »