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 ⟶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 ⟶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 ⟶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 . ….
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The Color of Compromise: The truth about the American church’s complicity in racism by Jemar Tisby. Want a book that keeps you up at night thinking? The Color of Compromise is one of those books. Why is it so provocative? Pastor and author John Piper has been quoted as saying, “We all have blind spots and blank spaces.” This is particularly true in the white community when it comes to race and racism in the church. Tisby will expose some of those blind spots and…
Read More ⟶The church’s seasons, like Advent or Lent, have been mostly irrelevant or a mystery to me. My “liturgical” friends make a big deal out of Lent, Ephiphany, or Pentecost. In my baptist tradition, no one preached against the church seasons, they just weren’t mentioned. It’s not unusual to have an Advent sermon series but we usually don’t light candles. This year is different for me. In my diverse reading cycle, I came across Mark Cosper’s book, Recapturing the Wonder. He caught my attention on the…
Read More ⟶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 get carried away. In Jesus’ time, they fact-checked people’s obedience to the Law. They believed that true obedience could be precisely measured and one standard was applicable to everyone. Fact-checkers…
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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, along with the author Wendell Berry, has challenged my assumptions by asking me to look at creation through the lens of the Creator. Richter returns us to the garden when…
Read More ⟶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 five year mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before! What a clear and simple…
Read More ⟶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 heaven’s opening, the Spirit’s descent, and the Father’s affirmation, He immediately gets a ticket to the dessert to fast and be tempted by Satan (Mark 1:9-13). What’s going on here?…
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