John Mark Hicks

The Woodmont Hills Family of God has suffered some difficult losses in the past months and in this past week the family suffered the loss of one of its youth. Ty Osman, an eighteen year old freshman at Harding University, was killed in a car accident while on Spring Break. Added to other recent losses–and the […]

Moving from a glorious mountain-top ecstasy to the despairing valley of his disciples’ faithlessness, Jesus experiences a range of emotions. To experience bodily transfiguration, conversation with Elijah and Moses, and hear the voice of his delighted Father was a great delight (Mark 9:2-8), but to come down the mountain to hear his disciples arguing with […]

How we pray, how often we pray and why we pray reveals much about our spiritual walk with God. David Lipscomb printed a statement by a friend who encountered people among the Stone-Campbell Movement who did not seem to pray fervently.  The inquirer wrote, “I heard one of your leading ministers say a short time […]

Daniel Sommer (1850-1940), a graduate of Bethany College and the heralded successor of Benjamin Franklin among northern conservatives, lived and worked among congregations of Churches of Christ who were more open to the public voice of women than their southern counterparts.  In particular, at least in the article below, Sommer is quite explicit about the […]

The “Examen Prayer” is a form of Ignatian spirituality derived from St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order.  The practice is older than Ignatius but he gave it the present form. I have been using Ignatius’ practice for some time now.  I have found it extremely helpful.  I had used other forms […]

The letter of James, full of practical and proverbial wisdom, appears in the context of a factious struggle between wealthy and impoverished members of James’ faith community. The tension between the rich and the poor pervades the epistle and is one of the central themes that the letter addresses. James encourages the community of faith […]

This past Palm Sunday Dean Barham, the pulpit minister of the Woodmont Hills Family of God, challenged me to reflect more deeply about the function of Passion Week. Using Mark 11:1-11 for his text, he recounted the story of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. What caught my attention in particular was his comment on Mark 11:11. While […]

They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42, NASV) Borrowing from Brother Lawrence, I have been using the language of “practicing the kingdom of God” in recent years. I don’t mean that as an alternative to or a substitute for Brother […]

Shaped by Intimacy [ The sermon version of this small group study is available here]. Jesus lived with twelve disciples. He travelled with the twelve, ate with the twelve, taught the twelve, sent the twelve out to herald the good news and heal the sick, and prayed with the twelve. There were times when he […]

Shaped in Solitude Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from [being baptized in] the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days.    Luke 4:1-2a Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went to an isolated place to pray.    Mark […]