Crisis focus. Earthquake, tsunami, followed by 100’s of large aftershocks, and now the threat of nuclear disaster. Japan is traumatized. In addition, though media have rightly affirmed the Japanese for their calm, their patience, the lack of rioting, protest, or looting–they have not reported the sad underbelly of Japanese culture. For all of its beauty … More Helping Japan in Her Hour of Need
Weekend Musings As I dig out from under a pile of relocation paperwork I ran across this quote from 2006. “If Christians had given a 10 percent tithe to their churches in 2004, instead of the actual 2.56 percent, there would have been an extra $164 billion. And if churches spent $70-80 billion of that … More If Christians were More Christian
Weekend Reading When you are on a mission, you know it. Even Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi knew that (see Blue’s Brothers Movie)! Some quotes from Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer’s new book, Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations. “We are supposed to see transformation, but too often we see stagnation.” (p.2) “We can choose … More The Stagnation or Transformation of a Community?
Update: if you want to send notes of encouragement to Japanese children or rescue workers in Japan go to hopeletters.wordpress.com. The events in Japan are so horrific and sad I am having difficulty even thinking let alone praying. I have, my daughter has, my former church (New Song) has so many Japanese friends and we have come … More Japan Needs You to be on Your Knees for Them
Friday is for Heart Songs Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer’s new book, Transformational Church: Creating a New Scorecard for Congregations, will be one of the texts in the Master’s level class that Ed and I will be co-teaching in the Fall at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Every day I get more excited about the class. … More Transformational Church: How do we get there from here?
Friday is for Heart Songs A story from World War II: The two things most veterans remember hearing over the transport ships’ loudspeakers were the command “Away all boats!” followed by The Lord’s Prayer. There were no atheists on D-Day. Credit: Timothy B. Benford Unfortunately “emergency belief” is rarely long lasting or satisfying. Draw near … More “Emergency Belief” is Rarely Lasting Belief
Thursday is for Discipleship Thesis: Spiritual formation that leaves out the second coming of Christ and its implications is non-Pauline and unhelpful for both the formation of Christians and the progression of mission. When we share the gospel and do not impress upon new converts, very early on, that Jesus is coming again and that … More How We Destroy Spiritual Formation at its Initiation
Ed Stetzer and I sat down for dinner tonight at Flatlanders to discuss the class we are going to co-teach together in the Fall at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Meetings with Ed are always fun, fast paced and challenging. This one was all of that and more. We fleshed out the guts of what we … More Great Time with Ed Stetzer Tonight
Wednesday is for Prayer The following post and link are from Seth Godin. He is talking about business and marketing leadership but he could easily have been talking about preaching the gospel. The worst moments are your best opportunity “That’s how we judge you and how we remember you. You are presumed to be showing … More Spiritual Truth from an Interesting Source
Tozer and Lloyd-Jones would be in perfect sync on this point. Tuesday is for Preaching My beautiful bride passed this jewel along to me. Remember, your preaching will be powerful because you walk with God. It will be weak and anemic because you don’t. It may be popular without holiness but it will only be … More Being Popular vs Being Powerful
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