Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
Two-part sermon series by Randy on the mission of the Church. On Pentecost Sunday (05.27.2007), I began a 2-part series called “The Mission.” We talked about the power God gives for the mission (that’s what Pentecost is all about). We also talked about our need to have passion for God’s mission. 1. Power for the … Read more
Leaders give away ministry! If you follow Luke’s story of early church history in the book of Acts, by the time you reach Acts 6, the church appears to reach an important crossroads. Up to this point the church has been actively involved in mission and has been experiencing tremendous growth. But with the growth … Read more
Good movie with a message. On July 4th, we went to watch Evan Almighty. Though the movie has received mixed reviews and has not done very well at the box office we both enjoyed the movie and thought it was well done. It was a good movie with a good message. Steve Carell, who play … Read more
Submitted drafts to our mentor today; hoping to submit proposal drafts to D.Min. office next week! Today, we finally emailed our second drafts to our mentor, Dr. Russell West. Whew! This latest phase was very challenging. In the last few weeks, it has felt like the project that would never end! But we took a … Read more
Good reminder as we plow through our dissertation work! Awhile back we wrote about the movie, “Meet the Robinsons.” Recently, in the midst of pretty intense dissertation work, we remembered a key phrase from the movie: “Keep moving forward!” It’s great advice for whatever stage of life’s journey we find ourselves in. In our case, … Read more
There’s a line drawn down the middle of the room. Step up to the line if you ever …* Heard God call, but hurried on with “life”. Spent more time in prayer asking God for things than asking God what He wanted for you or your loved one. Put up walls to keep others (and … Read more
A few years ago, we came across a great weekly guide for praying for pastors. It comes from Dan Reiland’s book, Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Your Church by Supporting Your Pastor. We encourage our parishioners to pray for us, and for everyone to pray for their pastors! Monday: Pray for your pastor’s family. God’s peace … Read more
Randy’s sermon series on 1 Corinthians 13. I recently did a 4-week series on 1 Corinthians 13. Each week we read the chapter in a different translation: NKJV, NASB, NLT, and The Message. Interestingly, the end of 1 Corinthians 12 says this: “But now let me show you a way of life that is best … Read more
In prayer, sometimes you need to surrender, sometimes you need to persist. In July 2005, we had a class with Drs. Jim & Molly Scott called, “The Transformation of the Church.” It was a very dynamic and incredible experience. One of the things that I remember most was a statement about prayer. Molly said that … Read more
A youth devotional using “Night at the Museum” A few weeks ago, at a youth lock-in, I shared the following devotion with the youth based on the movie, Night at the Museum. What makes you happy? What do you enjoy doing? When was the last time you did something that really made you happy? There … Read more