Actually, what we really need is a return to the model of Jesus, which will feel completely new. The church in America is not lacking for resources. We have conferences. We have curricula. We have podcasts, platforms, and personality-driven programs that can fill a calendar twelve months of the year. We have more tools for … More We Need a New Approach to Making Disciples
The Apostle Paul’s Testimony 11 To this present hour we hunger and thirst, and are poorly clothed, and roughly treated, and homeless; 12 and we labor, working with our own hands; when we are reviled, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure; 13 when we are slandered, we try to plead; we have become as the scum of the world, the grime of all … More How to Live in the World as a Christian
Some time ago, I was reading a book investigating the religious heritage of Shakespeare. (I know, I’m a little weird and just a bit of a nerd.) Anyway, there was a quote that arrested my attention even though it had little to do with Shakespeare. Here’s the quote: “[In] one of Sherlock Holmes’ mysteries, . … More Beginning Friday: A New Series
Take a moment and let these 10 ideas stimulate your own plan to make a difference in your neighborhood. Spring clean up: Find the oldest, neediest, or maybe the couple with the youngest children, and figure out a way to help with all the Spring things that need to get done. Go help them do it. … More Ten Ways to Make a Difference in Your Neighborhood This Spring
A pastor called with a question about what I have called on this blog, “INTENSELY LOCAL MINISTRY.” How do we reach the people around us? The neighbor next door and the one across the street–how do we tell them about the love of Christ in a culture where the discussion of personal faith is seen … More A Pastor Asked Me . . .
This week, I leave for Africa to help train pastors in Tanzania to be more effective leaders and preachers of the message of the King. Today, as I was working on my preparations, it seemed appropriate to repost this article from 7 years ago (Link below). I hope to return to my loving wife. I … More This week I leave for Africa
Saturday Afternoon Musing This may not be new to you, but it was to me. I have been meditating on Mark 4:1-20 and Jesus’ parable of the four soils. Sometimes hearing is better than reading (silently). Over the last few days, I have gone outside (into the heat) and read it out loud two or … More New Insights to a Familiar Parable
I was sitting in Panera with a young man, a plumber by trade, married with no children, who is also a new believer in Christ. He is so in love with Jesus and eager to grow that every meeting with him encourages my soul. He is raw, sometimes it sounds out in his language, but … More She was in her 80’s when she approach me . . .
I had a conversation with a ministry leader today about the need for discipleship in the local church and the inability of some leaders to free themselves of the shackles of the 80’s and 90’s nightmare called “The Church Growth Movement.” I told them the story of sitting in a Team 500 meeting of the … More Confusing Effects for Foundations
Fishing pools, fishing trips, or fish catching or, mixing metaphors, fields, fruit, and harvest: are all different things. 18 While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will … More Fishing Pools and Fishing Trips in the New Year
