Robert Lowery

Readers of this site may find the new Inside LCCS podcast of interest. The podcast will feature interviews with Lincoln Christian College and Seminary faculty, staff, students, and alumni, telling their stories and how Lincoln has helped to shape them. The first interview features college professor Dr. J.K. Jones.

Inside LCCS Podcast

"The trip of a lifetime," "better than a year in seminary," "something that I have always wanted to do."

These are only some of the expressions that could be used to describe a trip to Israel. If you have not been there, words cannot adequately describe the emotions, feelings, and insights you will "feel and touch" from a trip to God’s "Holy Land."

Standing on Mt. Carmel where Elijah called down the fire of God, praying in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed the night before He was crucified, and riding on the Sea of Galilee in a wooden boat are just some of the things we will be doing on our trip.

We will walk where Jesus walked, pray where Jesus prayed, and feel the power of His Spirit as we encounter the places where Jesus lived and died.

Deluxe accommodations have been secured at an excellent price. We hope you can join Dr. Boatman and me for this exciting trip that is certain to increase our spiritual growth and create memories for a lifetime.

The 11-day trip is being coordinated by Jerusalem Tours International and will take place from December 28, 2008 through January 7, 2009. For full details including pricing and an itinerary, please download the brochure.

Tags: israel, tour

We recently discovered that the form on the Contact page hadn’t been displaying properly. This has now been fixed–send your comments freely!

Photo by SqueakyMarmot

Paul S. Williams, who writes the "And So It Goes" column for The Christian Standard, had some very kind things to say about Dr. Bob’s teaching ministry in his most recent article:

When Bob talks about teaching the New Testament, he lights up like a Macy’s Christmas display. He sounds like a juice machine that can’t get enough oranges. He squeezes the most out of his world. He lives and works among seminary students with abandon, utterly confident in the truth of God’s Word. 

Read the entire piece here.

In response, Dr. Bob adds the following thoughts:

I am truly humbled by Paul’s kind and encouraging words. I have continued in my teaching and preaching ministry at Lincoln Christian Seminary because the community of disciples made up of faculty, students, staff and administrators, have challenged me to be the best steward of my life as I can possibly be and have given me the freedom to pursue my study of God’s Word.

NOTE: The above photograph was taken by Steve Smedley for the Bloomington, IL Pantagraph, accompanying an article on Lincoln Christian Seminary’s Doctor of Ministry program.  Original article here.

When you make changes to a web site, it’s the little things that often get overlooked.  Except sometimes little things are big things.  Like comments.

Some of you may have noticed that the posts on the main blog page no longer feature a comments link.  And you may wondered whether you could still add or read comments to Dr. Bob’s posts.  In fact, yes, you can.

Click on the title for any post, and you’ll be taken to a page that features just that post.  Scroll down and you’ll be able to see comments that others have made as well as a form to enter your own comment.

Sorry for any confusion that the changes have caused.  As always, thanks for visiting rlowery.com.

It was discovered earlier this week that the snippet of code that notifies registered visitors of new posts was causing problems after some changes to the site’s plumbing.  To solve the problem, that snippet had to be deactivated. (NOTE: This problem does not affect those who’ve already subscribed to e-mail updates through FeedBurner.)

What does this mean for me?

The site will no longer send update notifications to your registered e-mail address.

Wow, that stinks. Is there anything I can do to find out when Bob writes a new post without having to visit the site every day?

Actually, yes! Frankly, it’s even better than the "old" (and now defunct) method–and you can easily set it up in less than 60 seconds.

1. Scroll down to the bottom of any page on the site (including this one).
2. Look for the link that says "Subscribe by Email" on the right-hand side.  Click it.
3. On the page that opens, enter your e-mail address and the verification code shown.
4. You will receive a confirmation e-mail almost instantly (check your "spam" box if the message doesn’t show up). Click the link in that message and you will receive not only an update notice when Bob posts new content, but the entire post will be sent directly to you via e-mail.

Please accept my apologies for the extra hassle. Feel free to contact me if you have any problems with this procedure.

Thanks for your continued support of rlowery.com.

Out with the old, in with the new.

rlowery.com has been updated for 2008 with a new “look and feel.” As with any technology change, there may be a few bugs to squash. If you experience any problems with the site, please let us know and we’ll work quickly to resolve it. Thanks for your continued support of Dr. Bob’s site.

NOTE: I’m aware of some issues with the sidebar displaying correctly on the “blog” page. If you’re having trouble viewing the sidebar, please let me know what browser you’re using (Internet Explorer 6, Firefox 2, etc.) as well as what operating system (Windows XP, Vista, Mac OS 10.4, etc.). Thanks.

Dr. Bob and I would like to wish you all a happy and blessed 2008. Thanks to those who have visited and commented in 2007 and welcome to those who are new to the site. In the new year, you’ll find new posts every week or so starting next Monday. As always, conversation is encouraged.

Again, blessings to all.

In light of the one-year blogoversary, we’re playing with the look of the site a little bit. Until the dust settles, you may see frequent changes to the site’s appearance. Don’t be alarmed.

One year ago, an armed man entered an Amish school in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, and shot five young girls. The Amish community rightly grieved but publicly expressed a willingness to forgive the man.

The Decatur (Illinois) Herald & Review recently ran a one-year retrospective piece on the subject. Writer Sheila Smith contacted Dr. Lowery for his thoughts on the valuable role of forgiveness:

Bob Lowery, dean and professor at Lincoln Christian College and Seminary, said the Bible has 125 references and scriptures about forgiveness.

He said the two key ideas on forgiveness in the Bible are:

• Forgiveness views sin as something that needs to be eradicated and done away with.
• Forgiveness focuses on the disruptive relationships between people and God that need to be restored.

The Bible, Lowery pointed out, is full of powerful images about forgiving sin. Look at David, who asked God for forgiveness after committing adultery sin with Bathsheba. The cover of Time magazine showed a picture of Pope John Paul II in the jail cell with his would-be assassin offering forgiveness to the man. And just recently, Lee Malvo, one of the “DC Snipers” who went on a deadly shooting spree back in 2002, asked for forgiveness from the daughter of one of his victims.

“The ones who find it easier to forgive have a better understanding of God’s grace,” Lowery said.

Read the entire story here.

NOTE: if the story drops off the site, do a search at the Decatur Herald & Review for “bob lowery amish.”