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.

Comfort Twice Over

When we provide comfort to fellow believers, we are the means by which God has chosen to provide his comfort.

Jon Varner
Lead Pastor
Jon Varner is the lead pastor at Valley View Christian Church in Kent, Washington.

Inheritance & Glory: Our Vocation 

For believers, while heaven may seem long away, our eternal inheritance is already available to us in the here and now.

Joshua Navarro
Student | Doctor of Philosophy
Joshua is a current Ph.D. candidate at Gateway Seminary studying New Testament studies. He also serves as a regional administrator for Send Network.

Who Were the Danbury Baptists?

The Baptist story is integral to the history of the United States.

Jonathan McCormick
Director of Library Services | Associate Professor of Theological Research
Dr. Jonathan McCormick’s dissertation examined the tradition of confessions of faith among Baptists in the United States through the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message.