Let’s Grow the Crowd!

Crowds and disciplemaking go together. Numbers rule the day. Politicians count the number of people at their rallies. Churches count attendance. We count and compare our Facebook or Twitter followers. Numbers and crowds measure success. I’ve always had a “thing” with crowds. Disciplemaking is a ministry of the small and the slow, a work hidden…

Disciplemaking is Not For Fact-checkers

The fact-checkers met Jesus at every turn. Fact-checkers are religious people whose goal in life is to ensure that we’re obeying God in precise and pure ways. They help us keep the “i”s dotted and the “t”s crossed.  Fact-checkers are driven by obedience and doctrinal purity, good things to be motivated by. Unfortunately, they sometimes…

Stewards of Eden

Stewards of Eden

Stewards of Eden: What scripture says about the environment and why it matters  by Sandra L. Richter Richter’s book will turn the most conservative among us into “tree-huggers.” Like most conservative evangelicals, the environment hasn’t been on my radar. I’ve associated the environmental movement with restrictive policies on the advance of business and development. Richter,…

Disciplemaking is like joining the Starship Enterprise

I’m a delayed Trekkie fan. I missed all the hype with the original Star Trek series but became a fan of The Next Generation. The captain’s voice-over opening to each show makes me sit up straight in my recliner (my command chair!). Space, the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, it’s…

Disciplemaking Starts by Looking in the Rearview Mirror

You’ve just been hired for your dream job. You can’t wait until the first day of training. Then the text message arrives: “Report to our desert training outpost. Don’t bring any water or food. You’re going to be totally alone.” What kind of training is this? Now you feel a little like Jesus. After experiencing…

Stealth Leadership

The meeting had ended. I didn’t lead the meeting; I was a participant like the others around the table. As we gathered to leave, the leader gave me a compliment. “Bill, do you realize that you led that meeting by the questions you asked?” he said. I had no intention of leading the meeting. I…