Mother, Wife, Writer. Find my work @ Christianity Today, TGC, and Fathom Magazine.
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Articles by Kimi Harris
My Top Five Books on the First-Century Greco-Roman World
Subscribe to Christianity Today and get instant access to past issues of Christian History! The following books cover different aspects of the cultural context of early Christianity.
2020 Brought Trials for This Patient and Doctor. But Faith and Love Still Grew.
When Julia Wattacheril, a transplant hepatologist, was redeployed to the ICU triage at her hospital in New York City this spring, she faced “pure disaster management at peak.” In the first 26 minutes of her first shift, she “had three rapid responses (acutely unstable patients before a cardiac arrest), two arrests, and one death.” “The hardships are many,” Wattacheril says.
How the Forest Inspired Me to Stay in Church
“They were probably never real Christians anyway,” a friend remarked with despairing, cold comfort. We were discussing friends who had left Christianity after a messy church situation. Because of the church crisis, people became confused, scattered, and heartbroken. As a result, some who once seemed devoted to God were no longer sure what they believed.
The Light of the Nations
“They saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:11). Israel never existed for herself alone. When the Lord called Abram, he aimed beyond Abram’s descendants to bless the nations. This Abrahamic promise animates the prophets—they see nations bringing treasures to Zion, learning the law of the Lord, turning from violence, and living together in peace.
At Reinhard Bonnke’s Memorial Service, Thousands Celebrate His Massive Harvest in Africa
ORLANDO, Fla. (RNS) — Reinhard Bonnke, the German evangelist known as “The Billy Graham of Africa,” was lauded at a memorial service today as “a giant and a general in the army of God.” The Pentecostal pastor died December 7 at the age of 79 in Orlando, where he moved his international ministry, Christ for All Nations (CfaN), in the early 2000s. He retired as head of CfaN in 2017, citing declining health.
Died: Lois Evans, Wife of Tony Evans, and Pastors' Wives Ministry founder
Lois Irene Evans, beloved wife of Tony Evans for 49 years and founder of Pastors' Wives Ministry, passed away Dec. 30, 2019 of biliary cancer. She was 70. Tony, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, shared the news on Facebook. "Just before the sun came up this morning," he wrote, "the love of my life transitioned from earth and watched her first sunrise from heaven." Lois was with her husband and the couple's four children when she died Monday (December 30).
This New Year, Resolve Not to Forget God
When did we forget God? It’s a provocative question. And it’s the name of outgoing Christianity Today editor in chief Mark Galli’s latest book. After years of working in this world, Galli believes that evangelical Christians’ strong suit today is the love of neighbor, be it prayer gatherings to evangelism to social justice to acts of mercy. We talk about God a lot and worship him and pray to him regularly.
Christianity Today’s Top 10 Articles for Pastors in 2019
This year’s top articles for pastors gather around a common question: What does spiritual health and wholeness look like for those in full-time ministry? “What unites me with a thousand other pastors who are both godly and dysfunctional?” asked Todd Wilson in the most-read CT Pastors piece of the year. “A lack of integration.” This humble confession represents the heart of most articles on this list.
Texas Church Grieves Two Leaders Shot by Visitor in Disgui......
The West Freeway Church of Christ, a close-knit congregation of about 280, didn’t get to finish its Sunday morning worship assembly. So Monday night—roughly 30 hours after a gunman killed two beloved Christians during the Lord’s Supper before an armed member fatally shot him—the suburban Fort Worth church came together.
Reflections: Christmas Sermons
CHRISTMAS has really become a hopeless muddle of confusion. The humility and the poverty of the stable are somehow confused with the wealth and indulgence and selfishness of gift giving. The quietness of Bethlehem is mingled with the din of shopping malls and freeway traffic. The soberness of the Incarnation is somehow mixed with the drunkenness of this season. Blinking colored lights somehow have some connection to the star of Bethlehem. John F.
C.S. Lewis Was a Grinch
“If there were less good will,” C. S. Lewis often said in December correspondence, “then we might have more peace on earth.” Lewis found no pleasure in the giving of generic winter cards, gift guilting, and the overall hurried pace of the Christmas season. Lewis went from saying “I hope I am not a Scrooge” in a letter in 1952 to admitting his “real name is Scrooge” in another letter in 1956. In short, C. S. Lewis wasn’t a fan of the most wonderful time of the year.
Jailhouse Flock
Jesse Hernandez (not his real name) shifted uneasily in the bus as it traveled the central Florida interstate that routinely dumps carloads of tourists into the paved acres of Disney World. But Jesse was not on holiday. The bus that carried him and several other prisoners turned off the interstate onto the narrow exit ramp that leads to the Orange County Jail.
Adding Criminal Justice Reform to Prison Ministry
In the early 19th century, evangelicals were at the forefront of prison reform—England’s Elizabeth Fry being a foremost example. Today, while many churches have or support prison ministries of mercy and evangelism, very few work on criminal justice reform. Four out of five American churches (80%) say they are not currently involved in advocacy to reform the criminal justice system, according to statistics from new LifeWay Research published this year.
The Prodigal Who Didn’t Come Home
In February 1994, CT's Philip Yancey and David Neff joined President Bill Clinton and a host of dignitaries in listening to a bracing moral lecture from the late Mother Teresa. Her passion for truth trumped any concern she might have had for the feelings of the powerful gathered in the Washington Hilton ballroom. Later that same day, Neff and Yancey interviewed the President in the Oval Office and the presidential limousine. In writing up that interview (CT, Apr. 25, 1994, p.
An Advent Image Is Worth a Thousand Words
Every night since she was two, my three-year-old daughter has proclaimed, “I want to be a shepherd girl.” The towel goes over her head, and she gathers her sheep. She then sets them out to pasture—“Here, little sheep, eat”—or seeks for them because they are lost. After the game is over and we finish her bedtime routine, my husband or I tuck her into bed with “lambie,” her most precious possession.
Evangelism: 250,000 Hear Graham in New York’s Central Park
Evangelist Billy Graham delivers his message of hope to the largest North American crowd of his career. An estimated 250,000 New Yorkers turned out last month in Manhattan’s Central Park to hear evangelist Billy Graham, creating what many believe to be the largest single evangelistic rally in North American history.
Your God Will Come!
“The desert and the parched land will be glad; the wilderness will rejoice and blossom. Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom. . . . ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come’ ” (Isaiah 35:1–2, 4). Have a glance at Isaiah 34—even just the first four verses. Can you imagine a greater contrast than between the cosmic judgment there and the cosmic redemption in chapter 35? Yet we must hold them both together as the two dimensions of God’s climactic act.
Reflections on Communist Atheism
Recently opened in Ashkhabad, the capital of Turkmenistan, near the U.S.S.R.-Iranian border, is a University of Atheism now offering a six-month course to further the spread of scientific-atheistic knowledge. Graduates are expected to continue “the struggle against religion.” The teaching content of this university is undoubtedly structured by Marx-Lenin atheistic materialism. The article on “Atheism” in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia (second edition, 1950, Vol. III, pp. 347–354) surveys this theory.
Fleming Rutledge: Advent Begins Where Human Potential Ends
Across the Charles River from the Church of the Advent sits mighty Harvard. There, the famous psychology professor Steven Pinker thinks the world is getting better. In a recent interview, he makes the statement that, thanks to the Enlightenment and especially to science, life on earth is improving. He acknowledges that human beings “tend to backslide into irrationality,” but all in all, he thinks the data show that we’re making headway.
Let the Psalms Be Your Guide This Advent
Whenever Christmas rolls around, I get a little sad. I look back and am encouraged in the ways God worked in the past year, but also acutely aware of the things still hoped for—the things yet unseen (2 Cor. 4:18; Heb. 11). I look back and have hope. I look forward and ache. One of my favorite Christmas hymns is “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” I tend to be a melancholy person, so a song in a minor key speaks my language of angst.
Is the Wisdom of Mary Unique for a Teenager?
A version of this article was first published in the Advent Series from Science in the Church. To sign up for content like this, please visit the website. “A 14-year-old girl is pregnant. What should she, what should one, consider and do?” This question was posed by a a couple thousand years after Mary and Joseph may have faced a similar quandary.
Amid Christian Crackdown, China Recognizes Missionary Lottie Moon’s Church
As the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) collects its annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions, China has designated a church attended by the offering’s namesake a protected historical and cultural site. But a religious liberty watchdog wonders if the designation is part of an effort to deflect attention from religious persecution in the Shandong province.
God’s Mercy is More Robust Than We Think
In the now famous October courtroom scene, Brandt Jean turned to the former Dallas police officer convicted of killing his brother, Botham Jean, and said, “I forgive you. And I know if you go to God and ask him, he will forgive you.” Then the black man stepped off the witness stand and warmly embraced the white woman, Amber Guyger, who was sentenced to ten years in prison for murder. The scene inspired millions.
‘Divine Collision’ in Uganda Changed New Pepperdine President’s Life
A few hours after Jim Gash’s inauguration this fall as Pepperdine University’s eighth president, his wife, Joline, showed up at her husband’s fourth-floor executive suite with a Ugandan medical student. Tumusiime Henry, 26, had flown nearly 10,000 miles to help celebrate Jim Gash’s unlikely ascension to the top post at the 7,900-student university, which is associated with Churches of Christ.
Ethiopia Grants Autonomy to Evangelical Heartland
In a widely anticipated referendum held in Ethiopia’s Sidama zone last month, an overwhelming 98 percent of voters chose autonomous self-rule. Across the highland region famed for its flavorful coffee exports, voters lined up as early as 4 a.m. on November 20, smiling and waving their green identification cards. “For the last two months, the church was praying and fasting daily,” said Tessema Tadesse, pastor of a Kale Heywet church in Hawassa, the capital of Sidama.
Divine Facial Recognition
I visited the National Portrait Gallery recently in Washington, DC. In its elegant hallways, a wide range of well-lit paintings are displayed side by side: politicians, war heroes, athletes, musicians, presidents. It is a library of human faces—a silent, visual documentary of who we are. Artists and subjects sharing one human story, marked by the fingerprints of God. In particular, I was moved by Robert McCurdy’s portrait of the late author Toni Morrison. The oil-on-canvas looks like a photograph.
Evangelical Giving Holds Steady Despite Tax Reform
It will take months to tally the millions Americans donate to charity on Giving Tuesday. But analysts already know what kinds of charities are favored by American evangelicals—and that the GOP tax reform bill that went into affect last year has had an impact on giving.
9 recipes for pumpkin pie and variations
These recipes use unrefined sweeteners for a healthier treat. Plus: Tips on making a your own pumpkin puree and homemade pie crusts. Pumpkin pie is the essence of the holidays, but there are plenty of different ways to make it. (Photo: Anna Hoychuk/Shutterstock) Pumpkin pie is an essential part of Thanksgiving for many. This year, instead of popping by your local market to pick up a sugary-sweet version, why not making a healthier version?
Religious Freedom Watchdog Concerned About Looming Oversig......
When American pastor Andrew Brunson was imprisoned in Tukey, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) played a major role in spotlighting his case and eventually securing his release. USCIRF commissioners were the first Americans other than his family and local State Department staff to visit Brunson in prison. USCIRF commissioners witnessed his trial on allegedly trumped-up charges and sounded a media alarm, and a USCIRF commissioner accompanied him home.
When Restoration Hurts
In 2002, Amanda sat at a Christian counseling office in Indiana with an assignment in front of her. She was supposed to list the ways she had been blessed by her father, who had been sexually abusing her for years. She was a hopeful 17-year-old looking for help. It was not the family’s first encounter with counseling for her father’s behavior. Earlier, he had confessed the abuse to another counselor, who notified Child Protective Services and encouraged him to report himself to the police.
All God’s Laws Are Equal. Are Some More Equal Than Others?
A scribe came to Jesus and asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” (Mark 12:28). It sounds like a fair question. First-century Jews counted 613 regulations in the Law, 248 commands, and 365 prohibitions. They ranged from the utterly foundational (“You shall have no other gods before me.” Ex. 20:3) to the apparently peripheral (“Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.” Ex. 23:19). All of God’s laws are equal, but surely some are more equal than others.
A Scrappy Network of Christians Welcomes Congolese Asylum Seekers
Temperatures in the Chihuahuan Desert lowlands were steadily hitting triple digits in the last days of June as a small group of Congolese men, women, and children waded into the Rio Grande in the Mexican city of Ciudad Acuña. Midway across a weary, 31-year-old man named Gauthier looked up toward the riverbank on the other side, in Del Rio, Texas. Several US Customs and Border Patrol were waiting. Waiting, he hoped, to guide him and his fellow travelers toward asylum in the United States.
The Palestinian Priest Welcoming Syrian and Iraqi Refugees in Jordan
Earlier this fall, the Trump administration announced that the US would accept no more than 18,000 refugees in the coming fiscal year. Here’s how CT reported this news: President Trump’s administration has dramatically cut the number of refugees admitted to the US every year since taking office. Last year, CT reported on evangelicals condemning the decision to drop the refugee ceiling to then-historic low of 30,000 for the 2019 fiscal year. The year before, it was down to 45,000.
The Road from Damascus: How a Syrian Christian Spoke at Harvard’s Commencement
Following Turkey’s recent incursion into Syria and establishment of a “safe zone” in coordination with Russia, the beleaguered nation faces another refugee crisis. According to the United Nations, 6.7 million Syrians have registered with their High Commission for Refugees. Turkey hosts the largest share, with 3.4 million, followed by Lebanon with 1 million. The United States: 21,645, according to official State Department figures, from the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.
The Cross Is Our Stairway to Heaven
One of the most common evangelistic tools is a simple drawing of two cliffs with a chasm between. On one cliff is a figure representing the sinner, and on the other a figure representing God. What can span the chasm of our sin? A cross, dropped neatly in place to serve as a bridge between the sinner and God. No doubt, this simple illustration has been used to great benefit, but allow me for a moment to make a mountain out of a molehill.
National Association of Evangelicals’ New President Hopes to Bring Together a Movement in Crisis
As the evangelical label becomes more contentious and political polarization challenges the future of the movement, the namesake organization for evangelical Christians in the US has appointed a new leader. Walter Kim, a Presbyterian pastor with a background as a scholar and chaplain in the Ivy Leagues, was elected president of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) at a board meeting Thursday.
13 Likely Health Benefits of Drinking Tea
For centuries, people have touted the health benefits of drinking tea. But what exactly can tea do for you? 1. Caffeinated hot tea may lower risk for glaucoma: A study published in the journal BMJ showed that caffeinated hot tea drinkers had a 74% less risk of developing glaucoma compared to people who drank decaffeinated tea, caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, or soft drinks.
Carving Out a Niche for Micro-Congregations
On any given Sunday at 7:30 a.m., a visitor to Schlitte Boxing & Fitness may find two dozen or so men and women hitting punching bags, cranking out pushups, or congratulating one another after a particularly tough bench press. It’s not CrossFit. It’s Sunday morning worship at Warrior Church. To the side of the gym, there’s a stack of milk crates that form a makeshift altar.
Why Do People Keep Pastors at Arm’s Length?
I’m an Anglican priest. I wear black every day, I wear a collar, and I work in a parish. While many pastors from evangelical traditions opt out of the collar and thereby can get around “incognito,” those of us who wear clerical garb have a constant visual reminder of who we are. This is can be deeply isolating.
What's the difference between orthorexia nervosa and a healthy diet?
Craving healthy foods does not necessarily mean you have an eating disorder. (Photo: Photo Creative/Shutterstock) How strict you should be about eating healthy? Is there a point when being fixated on eating well is harmful, a sign of an obsessive preoccupation or even a type of an eating disorder? Along those lines, the term orthorexia nervosa describes people who obsessively try to control their diet for purity's sake. What is orthorexia nervosa?
The Lost Genius of the American Settlement
As we accelerate into a year of intense presidential politics, CT will offer essays about how evangelical Christians understand our times and what our response should be. This is the first in an occasional series. --Eds We live in a time of shifting sand. The avalanche of social, political and legal changes we’ve experienced has left many believers reeling. They are troubled by what they see but also befuddled about how to respond.
Finding Grace in the Sunrise
One morning I boarded an early flight to Florida for a music gig. I stashed my guitar overhead, claimed a window seat, and turned up some ambient music in my headphones. My mind scrolled through the usual anxieties, like old tapes on repeat. From a west-facing window I found myself ruminating over some troubling circumstances that were pending resolution. My forehead rested on the window, surveying the gray, shadowed landscape. It was dark as we ascended through heavy clouds.
How Prison Ministry Inspired an All-Female Audio Bible
For years, author, speaker, and Bible teacher Ann White felt a burden to help at-risk women come to know the love of Jesus. Through her work in local American prisons as well as low-income communities in Southeast Asia, White saw a deep need for greater accessibility to Scripture.
How Can So Many Pastors Be Godly and Dysfunctional at the Same Time?
Pastors can be godly and dysfunctional at the same time. They can be holy and not whole. They can be biblically faithful and psychologically broken. They can be prayer warriors and control freaks, spiritually mature and emotionally repressed. They can sincerely love Jesus yet be addicted to food or porn or pain meds. I know this to be true from experience. For many years as a pastor, I was godly and dysfunctional at the same time.
How cutting out refined sugar changed one woman's life
Cutting out sugar will give you energy to start an exercise routine. (Photo: lzf/Shutterstock) Sometimes just one change in habits can change your life. I was thinking about this as I was gearing up for a sugar detox, and I was reminded of an interview I did a few years ago with a woman named Jennifer who turned her life around simply by removing sugar from her diet. Her journey is inspirational, and it may help you if you're thinking about cutting out sugar and don't know what to expect.
Whatever Happened to Communion & Baptism?
There is no greater signal that evangelicals have long forgotten their roots than the disrepair into which the sacraments have fallen in our day. By way of reminder, we should note that the Second Great Awakening began as a Communion retreat. Churches from all over gathered at Cane Ridge, Kentucky, in August 1801 to prepare themselves for and then partake in Communion.
12 tips for kicking the refined sugar habit
You've read about the evils of sugar, but here's what you can do. Refined sugar isn't your friend. It isn't that hard to live life without it. (Photo: Handmade Pictures/Shutterstock) There's so much news about how bad sugar is for you. It's been linked to everything from obesity to some types of cancer. Yet, we average 17 teaspoons of added sugar a day. That doesn't count the sugar found naturally in fruits or dairy items.
The Church’s Sickness Unto Death
In my last few essays (here, here, and here) I’ve been arguing that American Christianity, and evangelical Christianity particularly, thinks about the church in mostly instrumental ways. The church’s core identity is summed up in what it’s called to do, in most cases, one form of mission activity or another. Without denying the urgency to love our neighbors, I’ve been saying that our horizontal concerns for the neighbor have all but eclipsed our passion for God.
Some Christians Are Turning Over a New Leaf with CBD Oil
Mandy Van Schyndel remembers May 16, 2018, as the day her daughter Emma laughed for the first time. A remarkable milestone for an 18-month-old who started her life on hospice at the Mayo Clinic, not expected to survive. Even more remarkable that Emma’s parents credit a compound from a plant banned for more than 80 years with calming the disquieting symptoms of Emma’s conditions.
32 Inspirational Gardening Quotes
Gardening quote: Words of wisdom for the green thumb in all of us. (Photo: Benjamin Combs) I'm not much of a gardener, but I definitely want to learn more. Last year was the first time in many years that I really went for it in a couple small plots. I was pleased as punch that some of what I planted actually grew! Of course, there were some failures too. But overall, my experience made me excited to try gardening again this year.
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