My favorite time of the year is the Christmas season. I love the lights, the smells, hearing familiar carols in various places, and going shopping in attempts to find just the right gifts for my kids and others. I am thankful that we get to spend a few days leading up to, and the day of Christmas with our family. I find what prepares my heart for the season the most, is the music. I don’t mean the fun Christmas songs, though those are ok.

I love the songs that focus on the reason we celebrate for weeks, that reason being the birth of Jesus Christ. Once Thanksgiving is over, I don’t let a day pass that I am not listening to and singing along with the Christmas songs that lead me into worshipping Jesus.

We have an 18 year old son with special needs named Micah who is non-verbal and cognitively around 3 to 4 years old. His communication skills are very limited, but he loves music. He watches preschool music videos on his iPad, but on our TV he only wants to watch Christian worship music videos. If we are watching something, which is often sports related, he will hand us one of his communication cards that says “different.”  He’s telling us he wants to watch his Christian music videos. During the Christmas season, he also has certain songs he wants and they’re all Christmas worship. He will walk up to the TV and point to the one he wants.

I am so thankful that though our son is limited in what he can communicate, he chooses to listen to the songs that talk about the gift of God given to us in Christ. Though he doesn’t fully understand it, he is worshipping Jesus. And as those songs echo through our home, I worship along with him.

Persecution and Protection of Iranian Christians

A closer look at the history of Christianity in Iran may be helpful in understanding the current war in Iran.

Philip O. Hopkins
Associate Professor of Church History
Philip O. Hopkins is the associate professor of Church history at Gateway Seminary. He earned Ph.D. in applied theology from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and a second Ph.D. in Iranian history from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland). He is also a research fellow for the Institute of Iranian Studies at the University of St. Andrews, guest lecturer at Russian-Armenian University in Yerevan, Armenia, and part of the editorial board for Iran and the Caucasus (Brill).

Reflections on the Bible Teaching Conference

Hear from attendees what they learned at the Bible Teaching Conference.

Tyler Sanders
Director of Communications
Tyler Sanders is director of communications at Gateway Seminary. He is an avid fan of Ole Miss football, a Gateway alum, and has been known to, from time to time, hold down a funky bass line.

Hope in Suffering

Gateway student Matt Bodden is an evangelist who is ready to answer the question of suffering with the gospel.

Tyler Sanders
Director of Communications
Tyler Sanders is director of communications at Gateway Seminary. He is an avid fan of Ole Miss football, a Gateway alum, and has been known to, from time to time, hold down a funky bass line.