March 18th, 2024

Shaw Bigelow

9 POSTS
Shaw Bigelow is a follower of Christ, wife, mother of five, and blogger. When she is not soaking up the love of her family, she is working as an advocate for domestic violence survivors. Shaw most enjoys having conversations with people about their faith and encouraging them to continue to grow in relationship with God.

Exclusive articles:

Choose Your Influencers Wisely

The company you keep and who has your ear affects your life's success. Here's why it's important to choose wise influencers to speak into your life.

Your Sins Can Never Void God’s Gift of Salvation

The Gift of Salvation Never Expires Have you ever felt unworthy of God’s love? Do you believe that your past actions or current behaviors are so...

Do We Really Fear God or Understand Why We Must?

Follow Instructions Imagine going skydiving for the first time. It's an exhilarating and liberating experience that is simultaneously terrifying because a mistake could easily become...

Domestic Violence Awareness: A Time to Leave

As Domestic Violence Awareness month closes, I wanted to write a special message to all of the people who tell victims of abuse to...

5 Self-Care Tips for the Overwhelmed Introvert

I don’t know about you, but most of the time people irritate me.  I mean, I love everyone, but most of the time I...

Breaking

Trolls Band Together in Theaters November 17th

Nothing's Stronger Than Family Harmony About This holiday season, get ready...

Are State Laws the Solution to Kids’ Access to Porn?

As data continues to show the harms of viewing porn, particularly for children, support for stricter legal limits on pornographers has grown.

The Burial: A Glimpse Into the Life of William Gary

The Burial: Based on a True Events About Inspired by true...

Pandemic Restrictions Had No Lasting Effect on Churches, Study Finds

Even in states where regulations were severe, most congregations moved on quickly. Jeff Schoch was ready to be done with COVID-19 health safety regulations. Like most ministers in the US, the pastor of Crossroads Bible Church in San Jose, California, did his best to comply with the many pandemic rules imposed by state and local governments. But as soon as they were lifted, he wanted to put them all behind him. He quickly tore down the state-mandated signs about social distancing, hand washing, and masks. “I got rid of every visual reminder in the church,” Schoch told CT. “I was anxious, personally, to make that a memory.” Across the country, Protestant congregations are dealing with the long-term impacts of the pandemic. A new, extensive study by Arbor Research Group and ChurchSalary, a ministry of Christianity Today, found that a lot of pastors are still in crisis. Some furloughed staff members haven’t gone back to work. And even when attendance numbers have rebounded, there are still people missing from many congregations. Christian leaders will likely be grappling with the fallout from COVID-19 for years to come. But, surprisingly, state-level pandemic restrictions had no measurable, lasting impact on American churches. Even in places like San Jose—where the county government imposed some of the strictest rules in the country, the restrictions changed frequently, and authorities aggressively went after churches they said failed to comply—pastors like Schoch were able to just move on. The data doesn’t show any adverse effects from the government regulations. Eric Shieh, a research consultant for Arbor Research, said that surprised him. “You would think that the restrictions made things tougher for churches. They didn’t meet as much, and so you’d ...Continue reading...
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