As an instructor at a seminary on the church mission subject, keeping current is part of the gig. So, forking out the big bucks ($39), I recently purchased and read Barna’s Reviving Evangelism report, to glean what I could from their research. Their chosen title promised to revive evangelism. Hmm, a nice goal. I wondered […]
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The Hardest Writing Assignment of My Life
It was over a year ago, in a conversation with a church-consulting colleague that I had one of those rare light bulb moments. An idea popped into my mind on a book angle—one I believe could tap into the imaginations of church leaders/Christians. Critiquing major ecclesial voices who are speaking for God’s kingdom, it will […]
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Dear Ministry Friends and Partners
2021 was a blessed ministry year. Below I have listed prayer requests for 2022, and recap some of what God did this past year. Can I first share some personal news—we just celebrated the wedding of our youngest son, Nathaniel, to Grace Gullen. What a sweet moment for our family!
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Bridging the Post-Christian Chasm
In a new faith-ventured role with a youth outreach ministry called Tree House (based in Minnesota), a friend emailed me describing a multiplicity of burdens the youth are carrying and shared details of one troubled scenario, “There is one teen in particular who has come over a couple of times trying to challenge me with […]
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Why the Church Must Heed the Call of Rogue One
When I first saw the Rogue One movie trailer enumerating the star’s unsavory recruitment qualifications, I imagined a few out-bound Christians defending before their programmatic pastors saying: “This is a movement, isn’t it? . . . I move.”
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Mission in the Age of COVID-19
What does it mean to be on mission in the context of “social distancing,” fear of getting sick, or furthering the virus’ spread? What about the numerical gathering guidelines? Is the church online the new church gathered? These are ongoing questions. Granted, no one has a crystal ball to know what will unfold. We do know God is sovereign, and in control of everything, and not surprised by anything. We can fully trust in this tremendous comforting truth!
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The Iceberg Slicing at the Hull of the Church
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. When it comes to seeing what is occurring within churches, that is creating our current mission malaise, it takes an illustration to stick in our minds and stir our imaginations.
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Where the Wind Blows – Catch His Wind Part 2
The question of seeing God’s ultimate leading in our lives has profound ramifications. This second part (Part 1) espouses on the weathervane words of Jesus in John 3: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit” (John 3:8).
Continue readingHow Evangelism Got Lost
I know the title puts the skids on for some. What? Evangelism lost? That didn’t happen. You are right in the sense that God continues to reach people, and he continues to use his church, unquestionably. But what I am insinuating did happen. A shift took place that relegated evangelism from prominence. I believe such […]
Continue readingMovement Starts With Us
We can observe movement in many Bible passages. Try it now. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way […]
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