I love to hear the voices of children at play. I don’t know if it because I am from a BIG family or what, but a child’s voice gleefully playing together with other children always brings a smile to my face. Maybe it is part of being the oldest of 7 children. With 26 grandchildren, … More Children at Play?
I was meeting with a young man for breakfast, and 2 Timothy 2:22 was a central pivot of our discussion as followers of Christ. “So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.” (ESV) The gist of our conversation was along … More How to ‘Flee Youthful Lusts”
“Whenever a man is praised it is meet for him to think about his sins and then consider, he should say ‘I am unworthy of the things that are said about me.” —Anonymous One of my professor colleagues at the seminary I taught at in California had a raw bluntness that cut through false modesty … More The Awkwardness of Praise and the Cancer it Feeds
Second in a SeriesSimple truth: When we hurt, we want to not hurt. It is universal. It is human. But as a popular worship song suggests: What if Teardrops are Blessings? I want to copy out all three short chapters related to Rule #2 and drop them in this blog post. They are that good. … More Red Sea Rules: Glory over Relief
Raising babies or raising churches is similar. In both instances you need to pay attention to essential things. If babies don’t get smiled at, held tenderly, talked to, and fed the right foods they won’t thrive. Baby Christians and baby churches are much the same. The Apostle Paul understood this. It is one of Paul’s … More Bringing Up Baby
Scene from “The Chosen” 9 As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. 10 And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his … More Reading Matthew and Thinking about “The Chosen”
Two years ago while I was the pastor of another church, our church started to rethink how we are forming people in Christ, i.e. discipleship. As a part of that process I ran across one church’s description of . . . The Chair The Row and the The Circle I thought it was very … More Making Space to Do What We are Called to Do–Make Disciples
We are planting a new church in Rock Hill, SC focused on the southwest corner of town. Our community is the three-mile radius surrounding South Pointe High School and we are very excited about the growing company of men and women God is assembling to bring a fresh expression of the gospel to the ethnically … More Our New Church
The Church is Anemic. We are called to make disciples. It is the one outcome that Jesus wants us to be working on as we go about all the stuff of life. Everything else is secondary. So what does it tell us that according to a Barna Group survey just two years ago . . … More The Discipleship Problem at Our Door
Abounding in Love Back in May, I had the privilege of preaching on Philippians 1:9-11, Paul’s prayer for the Philippians. Paul reveals the content of his prayer whenever he remembers the faithfulness of the Philippians. He starts with . . . “That your love may abound” Having an abounding love for people and for the … More Being Known for an Abounding Love
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