Blog

Living in the Quiet: A Vision for Everyday Disciples

By Bill Mowry July 9, 2021

Death can be God’s classroom for learning.  When my mother passed away a decade ago, one verse lingered in my mind. It’s a little obscure passage in 1 Thessalonians 4:11: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and to work with your hands . . . so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders” (NIV). What was God’s lesson for me? My parents “lived in the quiet” literally “working with their hands.” My dad was a butcher and my mom…

Read More ⟶

Four Ways to Unflatten People

By Bill Mowry June 16, 2021

My son gave me President Obama’s recent book The Promised Land for Christmas. I asked for the book out of curiosity. I wanted to know, “What’s the story behind the man?” I was pleasantly surprised. I discovered a leader who was honest, principled, and a good father and husband. While I disagreed with some of his policies and political assumptions, he was operating from a patriotic desire. I concluded that he was neither the savior that the liberals hoped for nor the devil-in-disguise of conservatives….

Read More ⟶

Dinner Tables Grow Disciples

By Bill Mowry May 6, 2021

Hunting for discipleship in the Old Testament – Part Three Peggy and I love being grandparents. Unfortunately, our grandparenting these days is limited by distance and a pandemic. As relatively new grandparents, the best advice we’ve received is that grandparents are expected to spoil their grandchildren. We’re looking forward to enjoying the ministry of spoiling! Grandchildren and disciplemaking are naturally linked. I love how the Bible conveys spiritual truths in physical realities. Jesus compared the providence of God to flowers and birds. The Kingdom is…

Read More ⟶

Disciples live in common places

By Bill Mowry April 15, 2021

Hunting for discipleship in the Old Testament – part two God is often present in the common place. Unfortunately, I don’t always look for Him in common places. It’s easier to spot God’s presence in a packed worship service, the extraordinary healing of people, or dynamic Bible teaching. I’m learning that He inhabits everyday places as well. Everyday places are important to our Lord. In fact, these common places are “blessing locations” – those spaces where God’s favor resides. It’s in these places that disciples…

Read More ⟶

Waiting on the Word

By Bill Mowry April 1, 2021

What am I reading? Are you ready for a surprise? I’m reading poetry! I’m always on the lookout for new and fresh ways to reflect on the Easter season. One way I’m seeking the Lord this Easter is through reading poetry. May I recommend Malcolm Guite’s book The Word in the Wilderness: A Poem a Day for Lent and Easter. Guite is an English pastor, poet, and musician. In this book, he has strategically selected poems from across the centuries to read for each day…

Read More ⟶

Disciples for What?

By Bill Mowry March 18, 2021

Hunting for discipleship in the Old Testament – part one Have you heard the story about the boy in the Sunday School kindergarten class? When the teacher held up a picture of a squirrel and asked the class what it was, the boy answered, “I think it’s a squirrel but I’m going to say Jesus!” It’s easy to give the “Jesus” or spiritual answer to the question, “Disciples for what?” The “right” answer is “for the glory of God.” Who would dispute that? Another answer…

Read More ⟶

A Nude Dude in a Rude Mood

By Bill Mowry March 4, 2021

It was like a scene from a Stephen King movie. Twelve men huddled together on a dark beach behind a leader. A few torches shed light onto a horrific scene. Running toward them was a howling, bleeding, naked man. “What do you want from me?” the man screamed at the leader. The leader, Jesus, calmly confronted the demon-possessed man (Mark 5:1-20). He and the disciples had just crossed over the lake at night and were immediately met by this “nude dude in a rude mood.”…

Read More ⟶

Let’s Not Complicate Things!

By Bill Mowry February 18, 2021

Disciplemaking is as simple as a walk I quickly saw the clutter of books and videos when I walked into Justin’s office. His office was taken over by this stack of resources. What was the subject matter?  The piles of books and videos were about discipleship. Justin was searching for the holy grail of disciplemaking — the perfect program that guaranteed results. Unfortunately, the abundance of choices created confusion. Shouldn’t disciplemaking be simpler than amassing a library of resources? Let’s not complicate things! When it…

Read More ⟶

Walking

By Bill Mowry February 4, 2021

It’s not about exercise. It’s about disciplemaking. Christians in North America are discovering the beautiful simplicity of Jesus’ method of disciplemaking. We’re longing for something simple because we’re growing tired of over-stated promises of curriculums and programs. We want a disciplemaking process that is relational, simple, and do-able — something that everyday Christians can do as people walk through life together.  I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming release of my book Walk with Me: Simple Principles for Everyday Disciplemaking by Moody Publishers. Here’s an endorsement…

Read More ⟶

Let’s Grow the Crowd!

By Bill Mowry January 21, 2021

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 from the public eye. I’m cautious about crowds because crowds can appear to be “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Disciplemaking seems the opposite of attracting crowds . ….

Read More ⟶