Latest news with #Ephesians
IOL News
11-07-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Durban pastor launches innovative app to enhance community engagement
Durban pastor Carlin Govender is merging spirituality with technology through the launch of the WOFC App. During these challenging times, when conflicts are rife, tensions are high, unemployment continues to skyrocket and hope is often far from reach, a Durban pastor is using her unique skills to improve the lives of those around him. Carlin Govender, the senior pastor and the founder of Word of Faith Churches (WOFC) in Chatsworth and Phoenix is launching a new groundbreaking WOFC App which is aimed at spreading the gospel and revolutionising the experience of church. The family man and father of two also aspires to spread positivity by transforming faith through technology. The 42-year-old, who was born and raised in Park Rynie, Govender has always had a passion for technology and this endeavour underlies his unwavering commitment to empowering his community and to empower people of all ages and from all walks of life to be a confident participant in the digital pastor also wants to use the app to increase their outreach through modern technology. With the use of Govender's support and his new app, his congregants and community members will be able to access spiritual content and to use this as a guiding force during challenging times. This move is also a unification of Govender's two passions - spirituality and technology. This is as prior to becoming a pastor, he intended to venture into the corporate world after pursuing diplomas in Information Technology (IT). At the time, he was just a youngster and Govender had no idea that this was preparing him for a career that seemed destined for the tech realm. However, at the age of 21, his life took an unexpected turn when he underwent a profound spiritual encounter that led him to pursue a career in the church and to commit his life to his faith and the service of his community. This pivotal moment transformed his career trajectory, shifting his focus from the corporate world to full-time ministry. With a renewed purpose, Govender then began his journey in ministry at Word of Faith Umkomaas in 2005. This move proved to be so successful that a decade later, he was ordained in 2015 by Apostle Kelson Lochenberg. But it has always been his passion for technology which has given him the edge. Armed with his desire to uplift his community, Govender's background in IT provided him with unique insights into communication and digital engagement, which is now proving to be invaluable in his role as a spiritual leader. And with this visionary approach, Govender founded the Word of Faith School of Ministry in 2018. This has become a space where he not only imparts spiritual wisdom but the pastor also embraces innovative methods to reach believers. 'My life verse is Ephesians 1:3, and my ministry is driven by humility and a relentless commitment to the Great Commission,' Govender explained, highlighting the foundation of his ministry's ethos. Meanwhile, the launch of the WOFC App aims to not only facilitate member engagement at the organisation but it also aspires to open unprecedented doors for online discipleship and community building. Govender said that it is designed as both a ministry and a tool, equipping followers to engage with their faith on a deeper level. 'This app is a manifestation of my mandate to take the gospel further and faster,' Govender said, blending his technological expertise with his spiritual mission. 'We aim to disciple nations, beginning right here in my hometown.' As the app begins to roll out, its impact is poised to change the landscape of church as we know it - transforming how congregants connect, empowering believers in their spiritual journeys, and enhancing accessibility to church resources. This initiative not only reflects Pastor Govender's passion for ministry but also sets a precedent for churches nationwide to leverage digital platforms for spiritual outreach. SUNDAY TRIBUNE
The Spinoff
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Spinoff
An open letter to Jacinda Ardern on open letters to Jacinda Ardern
Jacinda Ardern, I have a problem: people keep writing open letters to Jacinda Ardern. It has to stop. Hello Jacinda Ardern, Thank you for reading this letter, which I have sent in a genuine effort to contact you, and not as a hackneyed vehicle for a tedious, self-aggrandising sermon relitigating some bugbear from years ago. Anyway, I remember years ago, New Zealanders aired their disagreements the traditional way, by either getting drunk and arguing with each other or getting drunk and fighting. If the dispute was of national significance, it could be resolved through warring newspaper opinion columns, or in the case of Winston Peters, by calling someone a cuck in parliament. I yearn bitterly for those more sweet, innocent days. Back then I could go weeks or even years without seeing some minor gripe or whinge escalated into an open letter to the former prime minister of New Zealand, the Rt Honorable Dame Jacinda Ardern. Jacinda, hi, I'm sending this letter to see if you can do something about the scourge of people sending you open letters all the time. It didn't start with you, of course. Writers have been penning open letters for decades. Who could forget Paul's open letter to the Ephesians, Jacinda Ardern's open letter to MediaWorks chief executive Mark Weldon, or more recently, Spinoff fool's open letter to the Waitangi Dildo? But over the last six or so years, these missives have increasingly been addressed to one person alone. Open letters to Jacinda Ardern have been published by The Spinoff, The 13th Floor, the Herald, the Country, the Outdoors Party, the Taxpayers Union, and The Spinoff again. Whenever a New Zealander has a quibble or setback, their first port of call is to contact the nearest media outlet and fling a letter out in the general direction of our former prime minister. In 2021, Stuff published an open letter to Jacinda Ardern from a woman complaining she'd been forced to put her 'bi-hemispheral life' on hold and miss 'pea season' over the trifling matter of a global pandemic. Just last week, Sir Ian Taylor published what scientists estimate to be his 73rd open letter to Jacinda Ardern complaining that seeing your book in the airport made him spend 22 hours obsessing about the Covid response, which was definitely justified, your fault, and not cause for self-reflection. Enough! Jacinda, I know you're reading this. There has to be a way to put a stop to the madness. Maybe set up a PO Box where people can send their gripes about climate change and vaccines without subjecting the rest of us to their grousing. Lobby the government for a bespoke, financially crippling open letter tax. If all that fails, maybe quit politics and move to the US, where surely only the most desperate or deluded would continue to write you open letters. Dame Jacinda Ardern, I expect quick action over this issue. This letter is my attempt to effect meaningful change for our great nation. If it wasn't, you could be forgiven for thinking I'm shoehorning your name into the world's most parasocial media format for the sake of attention and clicks, and cloying, folksy, first-person sentences like this one are kind of a bit disingenuous and patronising. But we both know that's not the case, eh mate. How's the fam? Let's catch up soon to talk progress on this one.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Southern Baptists voted on a resolution to overturn same-sex marriage. A Louisvillian wrote it
First, Denny Burk and the resolution committee used a verse from Genesis, then another, then one from Ephesians, Psalms and Deuteronomy. The professor of Biblical Studies at Boyce College, a Christian college off Louisville's Lexington Road affiliated with the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, used the verses to write a resolution on "restoring moral clarity through God's design for gender, marriage and family." "Whereas, legal rulings like Obergefell v. Hodges and policies that deny the biological reality of male and female are legal fictions, undermine the truth of God's design, and lead to social confusion and injustice," a line of the resolution stated. The resolution was part of a focus by the Southern Baptist Convention, which has long had a fixation on opposing LGBTQ+ rights, and also abortion before the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. Burk, a strong traditionalist voice within the Southern Baptist Convention, proposed the language in the resolution. Burk is also the president of the Louisville-based Council for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an advocacy group that opposes LGBTQ+ rights. On Tuesday, during its annual meeting in Dallas, the Southern Baptist Convention voted on a resolution to reverse Obergefell v. Hodges, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage. Southern Baptist delegates, known as "messengers," overwhelmingly approved the measure following little debate on the resolution's language. Andrew Walker, an ethicist at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary off Lexington Road in Crescent Hill, chaired that resolution committee. "What we're trying to do is keep the conversation alive," Walker told The New York Times. Burk told USA TODAY he was grateful the SBC had taken up his call to overturn Obergefell. "We know that we are in the minority on this issue, but we want to be a prophetic minority," Burk said. "We don't mind being countercultural when it comes to marriage. We want to bear faithful witness to God's good design — that marriage is the conjugal union of one man and one woman." The Courier Journal requested an interview with Walker but received a message that Walker was on sabbatical, writing a book. The follow-up contact did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Courier Journal also requested an interview with Burk, who is also on sabbatical until July 31. The Courier Journal also requested an interview with Albert Mohler, the president of the seminary and a prominent evangelical leader. Mohler did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative reporter. Reach her at skuzydym@ or on social media @stephkuzy. Liam Adams, who covers religion as part of the USA TODAY Network, contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Southern Baptist repeal same-sex marriage based in Louisville
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Show Dad He's a Blessing to the Family With These Father's Day Bible Verses
The bond between a father and his children is a special one. Not only does he help them with quintessential milestones like learning to ride a bike, throw a ball, and catch a fish—but he also has an abundance of strength and wisdom that benefits the family. That's why when Father's Day rolls around, it's so easy to see why we celebrate him! (Just look at all Ladd Drummond's sweetest moments and Mauricio's adorable times as a new dad.) But when honoring Dad on his big day, it's not always easy to find the right words. If you really want to show pops just how much he means to you, DIY Father's Day cards filled with heartfelt Father's Day messages are the way to go! You can make him feel especially special when you break out the Bible and add a few lines of scripture. After all, fathers are a central theme of His word. From verses about God the Father to passages about your own dad and his role in teaching children the ways of the Lord, you're sure to find meaningful Father's Day quotes to share on June 15. These Father's Day Bible verses are about everything from fatherhood and being a godly husband to familial love. Find girl dad quotes, father-son quotes, as well as Father's Day messages for husbands. Take a look to find the perfect words to show Dad how much of a blessing he is to your family. Proverbs 22:6: "Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it." Ephesians 6:4: "Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." Proverbs 20:7: "The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him." Deuteronomy 6:6-9: "These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." Proverbs 17:6: "Children's children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers." Proverbs 23:24: "The father of a righteous son will rejoice greatly, and one who fathers a wise son will delight in him." Psalm 103:13: "As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." 2 Samuel 7:14-15: "I will be a father to him, and he'll be a son to me. When he does wrong, I'll discipline him in the usual ways, the pitfalls and obstacles of this mortal life. But I'll never remove my gracious love from him." Luke 15:20: "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him." 2 Corinthians 6:18: "And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty." Luke 15:31: "Then his father said, 'Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.'" Psalm 127:3-5: "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them." Deuteronomy 1:31: "The Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son." Proverbs 1:8: "Hear, my son, your father's instruction, and forsake not your mother's teaching." Ephesians 5:25-29: "Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church." Matthew 19:4-6: "Haven't you read that at the beginning the Creator 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." Ecclesiastes 4:9: "Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up." 1 Thessalonians 5:11: "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing." Ecclesiastes 9:9: "Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days of your vain life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun." Mark 10:9: "Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate." Psalm 133:1: "Look at how good and pleasing it is when families live together as one." 1 Peter 3:7: "In the same way, you husbands must give honor to your wives. Treat your wife with understanding as you live together." 1 Corinthians 7:14: "For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7: "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Proverbs 30:18-19: "There are three things that amaze me—no, four things that I don't understand: how an eagle glides through the sky, how a snake slithers on a rock, how a ship navigates the ocean, how a man loves a woman." 1 Peter 4:8: "Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins." Malachi 4:6: "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers." Song of Solomon 3:4: "I have found the one whom my soul loves." Romans 12:10: "Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves." Corinthians 13:13: "And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." Joshua 24:15: "As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Acts 10:2: "He and all his family were devout and God-fearing; he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly." Proverbs 3:11-12: "My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in." 3 John 1:4: "It is the greatest joy of my life to hear that my children are consistently living their lives in the ways of truth." Proverbs 14:26: "Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress, and for their children it will be a refuge" 1 Timothy 5:8: "But if someone doesn't provide for their own family, and especially for a member of their household, they have denied the faith. They are worse than those who have no faith." Proverbs 4:1-2: "Hear, children, fatherly instruction; pay attention to gain understanding. I'll teach you well. Don't abandon my instruction." Proverbs 4:11-12: "I will guide you in the way of wisdom and I will lead you in upright paths. When you walk, your steps will not be hampered, and when you run, you will not stumble." Genesis 18:19: "I have formed a relationship with him so that he will instruct his children and his household after him. And they will keep to the Lord's path, being mortal and just so that the Lord can do for Abraham everything he said he would." 1 Corinthians 16:13: "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong." You Might Also Like 15 Best Denim Jacket Outfit Ideas to Pull from Your Closet 10 Best Shampoos for Red Hair Like Ree Drummond's
Black America Web
23-05-2025
- General
- Black America Web
7 Bible Verses to Reflect On This Father's Day
7 Bible Verses to Reflect On This Father's Day Father's Day is a time to celebrate and honor the fathers, father figures, and mentors who have shaped us with love, wisdom, and faith. For generations, Scripture has served as a guide for men to lead with humility, courage, and compassion. The Bible is rich with verses that speak to the responsibility and power of fatherhood, reflecting God's love for His children. Here are seven meaningful Bible verses to reflect on the role of fathers and the strength of their spiritual legacy. As we recognize the men who lead their families in faith, let these Scriptures be a source of inspiration and gratitude — not just today, but every day. Related: 7 Bible Verses to Uplift You This Summer 7 Bible Verses to Reflect On This Father's Day was originally published on 1. Proverbs 20:7 'The righteous lead blameless lives; blessed are their children after them.' 2. Ephesians 6:4 'Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.' 3. Psalm 103:13 'As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.' 4. Proverbs 22:6 'Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.' 5. 1 Corinthians 16:13 'Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong. 6. Joshua 24:15 'But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.' 7. Colossians 3:21 'Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.'
