April 12, 2025

Christian Living, Church, Finance, Generosity

John Beeson

Why We Should Give to Financially Mismanaged ...

In 2007, the House Committee on Oversight investigated the “Coalition to Salute America’s Heroes and Help Hospitalized Veterans.” Something was seriously wrong with CEO Roger Chapin’s leadership (and it wasn’t just the absurdly long name of the charity). Chapin had raised nearly $170 million between 2004 and 2006, but only 25% of the money reached veterans. Over $125 million was funneled to Chapin and his cronies.

Whether at a national or local level, we don’t have to look long and hard for mismanagement of donations. There is nothing that breaks the trust of a donor more than seeing their hard-earned dollars misspent. We should care about where our giving goes. Churches ought to lead the way in financial transparency and accountability.

Why We Should Give to Financially Mismanaged Organizations

April 10, 2025

Recommendations, Nature, Evangelism, Parenting

John Beeson

This Week's Recommendations

6 discouraging trends in global Christianity: Aaron Earls reports, “While Christianity continues to grow, Islamic growth continues to outpace the church’s growth. Christianity slightly outpaced the global rate of population growth (0.98% v. 0.88%), but Islam grew even faster (1.67%).”
Wikipedia founder embraces Christianity: Trevin Wax reflects on Larry Sanger’s conversion, “Considering how many people are curious about the Bible these days, the increase in Bible sales, the interest in various philosophers and commentators providing their takes on the Scriptures,

April 8, 2025

Christian Living, Spiritual Growth, Wisdom

John Beeson

Don't Avoid the Dark Room

As I sit at our dining room table, a black-and-white photograph of bananas hangs next to our fiddle leaf fern. My wife shot and developed the photo for a college photography class. Angel didn’t know it then, but she was in the waning years of film photography. Much of her class was spent teaching students to develop film properly.

Developing film required the use of a dark room. One would go into a room that had no light. Even the most negligible levels of light can destroy a negative. The film cassette was opened, the film was removed and placed into a reel. That reel was placed into a film tank, covered with liquid film developer at just the right temperature, and agitated periodically.

April 5, 2025

Leadership, Vocation, Wisdom

John Beeson

A Career of Leadership Lessons

Nearly two years ago my mom retired as Department Head of Speech and Hearing Sciences at the University of Arizona.. My mom is one of the most skilled leaders I’ve had the chance to learn from. Here is my interview with her on leadership lessons she learned over the decades.

When did you first think of yourself as a leader?

The first leadership position I had was serving in student council in junior high. I didn’t think of it as much as leadership as the fact that I got involved. I cared.

April 3, 2025

Recommendations, Finance, Identity, Relationships, Wisdom

John Beeson

This Week's Recommendations

How much money do I need for retirement? A helpful article from Life Institute no matter how old you are.
Sin causes anxiety, too: Casey McCall wit h a helpful article reflecting on connection (sometimes) between sin and anxiety, “Christians today would do well to consider sin as a possible cause of mental illness even as we follow Murray’s advice to avoid pinning all mental illness on sin.”

Angel Beeson

John Beeson

May 11, 2021

Christian Living, Spiritual Growth

40 lessons for 40 years

John Beeson

May 11, 2021

Christian Living, Spiritual Growth

This past week my wife, Angel, turned 40. As an opportunity for reflection, she decided to consider what the most important lessons God has taught her. What follows captures her heart and wisdom well. I love seeing how these are lived out in her walk with Christ, our marriage, her parenting, and her counseling practice.[i]

May God’s wisdom through Angel abound to you.

John

40 Lessons for 40 years

God is always for me.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus is the most life-giving, soul-filling, peace-giving place to be. I walk in the overflow of my time with him. I don’t have to set an agenda for that space. I can just be and learn to wait in silence.
I am not my own.
To know who I am in Christ: beloved, adopted, chosen, a priest, a son, the bride, a sheep, free, a saint are non-negotiables in my life that no one and no thing can take away from me. This is who I am and it gives me permission and power to step into my role as wife, mom, and counselor.

John Beeson

May 4, 2021

Christian Living, Marriage

In Honor of My Beloved on Her 40th

John Beeson

May 4, 2021

Christian Living, Marriage

Tomorrow my beautiful wife, Angel, turns 40. I’ve known Angel since she was 14, a freshman at Canyon del Oro High School. She has the same magnetic personality she did then, but the years have added depth and wisdom.

Marrying young is hard. God had a lot of work to do on me and Angel (and still does!). But there is also joy. It is an honor to be a close companion to God’s refining work in another’s life for so long. It is a mercy to know and be known.

I’ve seen God shape Angel’s flighty spirit into grounded stillness. I’ve seen God transform Angel’s heart that, at times, struggled with discontentment, to a heart that overflows with gratitude. I’ve seen God patiently draw Angel into a vocational calling she wrestled with (those God has blessed by having Angel enter their lives as counselor are grateful she submitted!).

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