Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
The Church needs endurance! I’m writing a series of prayers for the Church, offering a prayer on a different topic each week. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, health, compassion, action, unity, power, and favor. Endurance is an essential quality for followers of Jesus. And, it’s been on my mind a … Read more
Today, I spoke at our local ministerium’s weekly Lenten Lunch service (services last from 12:05 to 12:30, followed by lunch in a different church each week during Lent). Today, we were at West Side UMC, where my wife is the pastor. It was a rare opportunity for the two of us to serve together. This … Read more
The Church needs favor! I’m writing a series of prayers for the Church, offering a prayer on a different topic each week. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, health, compassion, action, unity, and power. With God’s favor, anything is possible! O God, we belong to you. You have called us and … Read more
TED is a great place for ideas and inspiration. And, as a communicator, I like to watch them to inspire me to be a better communicator. In fact, I’ve recently started watching TED Talks while walking on the treadmill (at least once a week) as part of my strategy to grow as a communicator. TED … Read more
The Church needs power! I’m writing a series of prayers for the Church, offering a prayer on a different topic each week. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, health, compassion, action, and unity. Jesus said … you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will … Read more
Our most important responsibility as parents is discipling our children! While we can always do better, it is something we’ve been intentional about from the beginning. Some of our previous posts include: Praying the Scriptures for Your Children, Praying for Your Children, Family Devotion, Teaching Kids to Pray, and “Praying Circles Around Your Children” (these … Read more
Praying Circles Around Your Children by Mark Batterson is a great resource for parents who want to pray for their kids! Last year, I read The Circle Maker, also by Mark Batterson. I wrote several posts about it; the last one includes links to all of the posts in the series (see 5 Takeaways From … Read more
Lent is an ideal time for personal reflection and self-examination. It’s also a great time to remember the importance of accountability. Recently, I came across a list of twenty-one daily accountability questions used by John and Charles Wesley during their days in the Holy Club at Oxford University. It’s a pretty intense list of reflective … Read more
Five years ago today, Ethan joined our family! Of course, Ethan, 8-months-old then, joined our family reluctantly, at the time. We had just met him in his foster home the day before. From there, he adjusted very quickly! We celebrated his “gotcha day” last night by going to Fun Central, a local indoor play area. … Read more
The Church needs unity! I’m writing a series of prayers for the Church, offering a prayer on a different topic each week. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, urgency, hope, health, compassion, and action. In John 17, Jesus prayed for all who would ever follow him … I pray they will be one, … Read more