By Bishop Jonathan Holston. Ron Walters, the vice president of church relations for Salem Media of Georgia Inc. shared this story about Baseball Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, saying, "Few ballplayers have ever played the game as Mickey Mantle did. He launched home runs like missiles."

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. Planning is crucial to Christian leadership. In fact, it is often the determining factor between success and failure.

By Jessica Connor. Recently, I had the opportunity to tour several childcare centers in some of the poorer areas of the Midlands. It was a way to educate me about children living in poverty right here in South Carolina. Some of them were not too many miles from where I live with my own children.

By Jessica Connor. Two sweet-faced young women and a grinning little boy lost their lives doing absolutely nothing but participating in a family-friendly activity: the Boston Marathon. Others now face life as an amputee. Countless more will surely struggle through Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. All because two world-hating men decided they wanted to make a statement, or something.

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. This is a story about four people in the church whose names were Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

By Jessica Connor. In our faith, I've heard it over and over again: once we are saved in Christ, it shouldn't be enough to merely rest in the knowledge we are now guaranteed a spot in the Kingdom. While nothing we physically do can get us into heaven, once we are safely in the arms of Jesus, we're not supposed to just sit around on our laurels, eat bonbons and rest comfortably in our state of grace.

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. The question of what teams are in or out, who will be the bracket buster or who is in the field of sixty-eight all describe the NCAA basketball post-season called March Madness. The culmination of this event is the crowning of a champion and its anticipated anthem of college basketball: One Shining Moment.

By Jessica Connor. Recently, my 5-year-old daughter, Avery, has become slightly obsessed with evangelism.

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. Dr. Fred Craddock, a former homiletics professor at the Candler School of Theology, shares a remarkable story about seeing a violin on the steps of Cannon Chapel at Emory University.

By Jessica Connor. While job security and the overall financial health of the nation seem to be on the upswing, I don't think anyone expected the S.C. Conference to see its best year in apportionments giving since 2003. After all, the recession nearly crippled many in this state, and economy experts are calling this year's Christmas shopping season the worst since 2008. Most people expected something on par with last year, if we were lucky.

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. In a past issue of the Upper Room devotional, the editor shared an excerpt from the article, Little Things Make a BIG Difference.

By Bishop Jonathan Holston. No truer words are spoken than those of our 16th president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, when he said, People are just about as happy as they make up their minds to be.