AUTHOR AND BLOGGER
Rev. Dr. Kevin E. Ruffcorn
"To help people in their relationship with God."
That was my reply when a high school friend and classmate asked me what I thought the most important activity in life to be. It was near the end of my high school education and I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. The words resonated with the very core of my being. From that moment, I knew that whatever I did in life, helping people in their relationship with God would be at its center.
Searching for a Sane Faith?
Is your Christian faith feeling too tight? It fit a long time ago, but you have grown and now you’re busting at the seams. It happens to a lot of people. Our world is changing. The answers we once had no longer fit the questions being asked today. Our understanding of Scripture is changing.
Some people will advise you to shed your faith and give it all up. They claim it is old and superstitious and it will never fit again. Others will attempt to sell you a set of clothes like in Hans Christian Andersen’s story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” They want to you believe in everything and nothing at the same time. Still others will sell you a pair of overalls. Their message to you is to work hard and fill your life with good works.
TOWARDS A SANE FAITH
Offers You More...
This internet community nurtures, inspires and equips a healthy, vibrant journey of faith. It gives you the premium clothe, patterns, needles and thread to alter and to custom-tailor your faith. The blog site and virtual faith community do this in a number of ways.
#1
It welcomes new discoveries of science and technology and the expanding diversity we are witnessing in our everyday lives and in our world, and opens a dialogue with them.
#2
It explores the Bible using solid, proven, and accepted Scriptural interpretation techniques in order to apply its truths to our lives today.
#3
It hears God’s command to love one another and celebrates that the abundant life is lived in service to others.
#4
At the same time, Toward a Sane Faith acknowledges that faith is a personal journey and experience of God.
And Even More...
COUNTER CULTURAL
Toward a Sane Faith rejoices that the life of faith is not a solitary endeavor, and is always lived in fellowship with a community of believers. This internet community is frequently counter cultural. It is not a place to hide from the questions (and doubts) of faith, or the struggles of life. Instead, Toward a Sane Faith is a path on which to journey and move forward in our walk of faith.
INTELLECTUALLY STIMULATING
The blog site promises to be intellectually stimulating. Long held doctrines of the church will be investigated. Their validity and value in our modern world will be examined. Followers of Jesus will see that faith is more than the belief in what the church says is truth. Rather, faith is action—serving others and living life beyond ourselves.
DISCOVERY OF SERVICE
Those who minister to the needs of others will discover service is more than good works. It is actively sharing God’s love and grace, and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those who feel abandoned by God will be reminded of God’s promises and presence. Places where God is often “hiding” will be pointed out to them so they might catch a glimpse of God’s nearness and power in their lives.
BE NURTURED, INSPIRED AND EQUIPPED
FOR A HEALTHY, VIBRANT JOURNEY OF FAITH
WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME?
By signing up to be a part of Toward a Sane Faith, you will receive:
First Bonus
Encouragement
Daily devotions that are uplifting, inspirational, challenging, comforting and encouraging. These devotionals help you live a life of gratitude, focus on God’s presence and power in your life and respond to your neighbors’ needs with God’s love and grace.
Second Bonus
Free Articles
Book reviews that introduce you to thought-provoking, faith-deepening and service-expanding great books. Essays that address current issues and seek to apply the teachings of Jesus to them. These essays strive to stimulate conversation and comments among the community so that together we can wrestle with the issues which confront us. You are able to share your thoughts and ideas and help the community address these issues as well.
Third Bonus
Free eBook
Books that I have authored will be available to you on demand. In many cases, you will be able to purchase these books before the general public and at discounted prices. Currently, my devotional ebook, Bible Readings for Growing Christians, is free when you sign up to join the Toward a Sane Faith Community. Another devotional ebook, God’s Word of Encouragement, is available at a fraction of its original cost. My new book, Nowhere To Go But Up: The Power of Living in God’s Love, Rather Than Fearing God’s Wrath, will be available to you first in 2021.
Fourth Bonus
Christian Links
Products that equip you to grow in your faith and your service to others are featured. Often you are able to purchase these products at a significant discount. Links to other blog sites and podcasts enable you to broaden your community, and increase your knowledge and understanding of important issues.
Fifth Bonus
Engagement
Notices of retreats, workshops, seminars, and other national and regional events provide you with opportunities to nurture your faith. Retreats, workshops and seminars which I sponsor, will be available to you at a 20% discount on tuition.
ACTUAL SUCCESS STORIES
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Who is Kevin E. Ruffcorn?
Kevin E. Ruffcorn was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on August 19, 1951 to William and Evelyn Ruffcorn. He grew up in Minneapolis where his father worked at the Ford Motor Company Plant and his mother was a homemaker. He attended public schools until his ninth grade, when he entered Minnehaha Academy to complete his high school education.
He received his BA (Speech, History and Greek) from Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota (1973), and his M.Div. from Luther Theological Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota (1979). He completed four quarters of Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) as a Chaplain at High Plains Baptist Hospital, Amarillo, Texas, 1977-1978. He earned a D.Min. in Church Leadership from Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky (2004).
The congregations he has served have been rural/small town, suburban, and urban. They have been large and small. He has served as pastor/developer of two mission congregations and has also served older, well-established communities of faith. The people whom he led in worship were multigenerational and multicultural. Members from several minorities and marginalized groups were active in those communities of faith. The last congregation he served became a “Reconciled in Christ” congregation—open and welcoming to the LGBTQ community.
He is now retired having served Evangelical Lutheran Church in American congregations for over forty years. He served congregations in North Dakota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Nebraska and Arizona.
He has been married for forty-eight years to his college sweetheart, Faye. They have two grown sons, and two granddaughters.
Kevin E. Ruffcorn was a member of the College of Fellows of the Academy of Parish Clergy, 1980-1995. He was also a member of the Academy of Evangelists, 1987-1991. He served the ELCA, and previously the ALC, as a Partner in Evangelism, 1984-2005. He was also a presenter for the Mid-Sized Church Project, working with the Department of Evangelism of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
PUBLISHED WORKS
Bibliography
Kevin E. Ruffcorn has authored numerous Christian reads, including; Share the Word, Augsburg, 1982; Bible Readings for Growing Christians, Augsburg 1984; God’s Word of Encouragement, Augsburg, 1988; Rural Evangelism: Catching the Vision, Augsburg 1994; a novel, Playing Games, University Press, 1998. Toward the Cross and Beyond, Amazon 2019.
He has written Advent and Lenten devotions for Augsburg Fortress, and devotions for Christ in Our Home, and The Word in Season. Along with writing curriculum for Feasting on the Word (Presbyterian) and The Augsburg Adult Bible Study (Lutheran), he has also written several articles for various religious magazines and journals.
CLOSING REMARKS
Choose Life
Jesus said, “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). We experience that abundance every time we take a step along the path. As we travel in faith, we discover God’s presence and power in new places and we realize that we can serve our neighbors in new and better ways. We realize, as we walk the path that the Holy Spirit lays before us, that we no longer are threatened by the questions that we can’t answer or doubts we can’t lay down. With God walking by our side, we experience the peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:3). Toward a Sane Faith invites you to bring others on the journey of faith.
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