The crowds were made curious by his unconventional clothing and daily diet of raw locusts. They were intrigued by his teaching, and they marveled at his bold message. Word of his ministry spread like wildfire – causing multitudes of people to travel great distances to see this man who preached repentance, promoted the greatness of [...]
Filed under: church, leadership | Tagged: greatness, humility, kingdom | Leave a Comment »
Recently, I sat through a not-so-monotonous pre-flight preparation. In this comic presentation, the flight attendant prepared her passengers for flight by saying, among other things, “If you don’t like our service today, then our aircraft has six exits – two in the back, two in the middle, and two in the front.” After I stopped [...]
Filed under: leadership | Tagged: church life, complaining, confrontation, mission, vision | Leave a Comment »
Luke 5:37-38 “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins.” Letting go of an old wineskin can be difficult when it is all we [...]
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How do we determine God’s calling on our lives? First, let’s recognize that God is not trying to keep our calling a secret. He wants to reveal his calling to us. Second, let’s understand that God’s calling on our lives can never be contained by an occupation. Why? Because our calling is the thumb print [...]
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: calling, desire | 3 Comments »
Hear are some of the BIG IDEAS our students caught in this class (I have not edited the grammar – they appear just as they where submitted). Keep in mind that these BIG IDEAS are being pulled from a far larger conversation on discipleship: “I don’t want to be considered a Christian if all we [...]
Filed under: discipleship | Tagged: Christianity, faith | 12 Comments »
I love this quote! You will know why if you read my original blog titled “A STRONG Word to Parents”. “Transformational parenting entails adopting a leadership position when it comes to fostering a child’s faith; leaving the job to the religious professionals is an inappropriate transfer of authority and power to people and organizations that [...]
Filed under: parenting | Tagged: parents | 1 Comment »
Every week, I meet with a friend who is a self-professing, non-Christian, and non-disciple of Jesus (note: I would love ideas on how to say that in a positive way). At the end of our last conversation, I asked, “How many Christians do you think are going to be in hell?” He immediately responded, “All [...]
Filed under: discipleship | Tagged: repentance | Leave a Comment »
In considering the gospel stories and our Rabbi’s teachings… What does it mean to be a disciple? You may want to discuss this question with your own friends (the discussion may inspire them to grow as a disciple of Jesus too). Here is the list that our class discussion developed… To follow Jesus To be [...]
Filed under: discipleship | Tagged: Jesus, missional living, spiritual formation | 1 Comment »
Class ended today with this question, “How many Christians are going to be in hell?” Think about it: Damned Christians. Is this possible? Well, yes. If we understand that adopting the “Christian” label does nothing to secure adoption into God’s family (read yesterdays’ blog for more on this). Jesus never asks us to become Christians. [...]
Filed under: discipleship | Tagged: Christianity, discipleship, faith, obedience | 2 Comments »
Today I began teaching a two week course on Discipleship at Plumstead Christian School. Class began with this statement: “I pray that none of you are Christians by the end of these two weeks.” What?! Is this heresy? Not if we consider that the majority of Americans who call themselves Christians (85 percent of the [...]
Filed under: discipleship | Tagged: Christianity, Jesus, the big idea | 8 Comments »
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