Follow Jesus. Lead the church. Change the world.
The church needs hope! Each week, I’m posting a prayer for the Church. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening, transformational leaders, and urgency. The Church also needs hope. We have hope through Jesus Christ. We have the hope of being rescued from sin and spending eternity with Christ. The Church is the messenger of hope. … Read more
We are starting two new spiritual practices in 2013. First, we’re adding a practice to our evening family devotion routine. We’ve always read Scripture or a Bible story and prayed together as a family just before putting the kids to bed. Recently, we became more intentional about memorizing Scripture. This year, we’re adding a little … Read more
We published 112 posts in 2012 (including this one). According to blog statistics, the 10 posts listed below were the most viewed. The busiest day was May 10, the day we published 4 Strategies to Transform The United Methodist Church. That post, and three others below, were related to the 2012 General Conference of The … Read more
We hope you had a nice Christmas, and that you are continuing to celebrate the birth of Christ. Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a season. And, the reality of Christ’s birth is relevant every day! We have enjoyed celebrating Christmas this week. Both of our churches celebrated Christmas Eve candlelight services. The kids, who … Read more
John 3.16-17 sums up the purpose of Christmas … God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life. God didn’t send his Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. … Read more
The church needs a sense of urgency! Each week, I’m posting a prayer for the Church. So far, I’ve prayed for awakening and transformational leaders. The Church also needs a sense of urgency (I wrote about urgency yesterday in Eschatological Urgency). O God, we are your hands and feet in the world. Thank you for … Read more
In my last post, Eschatological Hope, I stated that the eventual return of Christ gives us hope to face whatever we might encounter in this life, and that our focus must simply be to be ready for Christ’s return. As I noted, eschatology is the study of end time events. Jesus certainly talked about end … Read more
Eschatology is the study of end time events. Few areas of scripture are more hotly debated, and perhaps misunderstood and misused, than parts than deal with end times events. Stuff can get off-the-wall pretty quickly. Some faith traditions talk more about eschatology than others. For example, it’s not a big focus in The United Methodist … Read more
When I hit the wall several months ago, I remember reminding myself during a time of prayer, “I’m not invincible.” At the time, I was pushing it pretty hard, physically (doing 30,000 steps/day as part of a 21-day national Virgin HealthMiles challenge). And, basically, I had been living on adrenaline, because that’s the only way … Read more
The Church needs transformational leaders! Last week, I began a series of posts praying for the Church. The church certainly needs awakening. It also needs transformational leaders. Joleen and I have always endeavored to be transformational leaders. Transformational leaders seek to help the churches they lead experience new life and to become more active in … Read more