If we want a future as church planters and pastors where we not only survive, but actually thrive, become more free, become more alive, and where we live with a growing sense of vibrancy and joy, then we have to learn what to do with our pain. The Franciscan priest and leading voice in the field of contemplation, Richard Rohr, …
How to Spot an Immature Evangelist and What To Do About It
“How to Spot an Immature Evangelist” is the third in a series of five articles on recognizing immaturity in fivefold ministry and what to do about it. If you have no idea what fivefold ministry is, check out Alan Hirsch’s brief descriptions here, or JR Woodward’s video introduction here. Missional church planting isn’t easy. You’re trying to grow something from the ground up …
How to Practice an Everyday Resurrection
Easter is over. We have celebrated the Resurrection and many of us are back to life as usual. These pivotal days of our faith seem to make little difference in the way we live. It’s More than a Day In the church calendar, Easter is a season, not a day. It extends from Easter Sunday until Pentecost, this year celebrated on …
5 Practices for Rediscovering Civil Discourse
It has been a challenging season for me. Every time I write something it seems keyboard warriors are out in force, criticizing, abusing and telling me why I am wrong and they are right. Our Christian society is becoming more polarized, not just around political issues, but over issues of race, immigration, gender and homelessness to name just a few. …
How to Spot an Immature Prophet and What To Do About It
This is the second in a series of articles on recognizing immaturity in fivefold ministry and what to do about it. If you have no idea what fivefold ministry is, check out Alan Hirsch’s brief descriptions here, or JR Woodward’s video introduction here. Missional church planting isn’t easy. You’re trying to grow something from the ground up in a healthy way, but …
What Frederick the Great Can Teach Us about Discipleship
Rory Sutherland recounts in a TED Talk the story of how potatoes were introduced to eighteenth-century Prussian peasants in what is now modern-day Germany. Frederick the Great wanted to bring potatoes to Prussia because the only source of carbohydrates at the time was wheat. He believed that the introduction of the potato would diversify and stabilize the economy, making it …
10 Soul-Restoring Experiences of Silence
Over a decade ago, a friend of mine was a teaching pastor at a very large evangelical church in Southern California. While he was working at the offices, the senior pastor approached him and asked him if he could help organize the two-day staff retreat that was coming up. Keep in mind, this was a staff of over fifty people, …
Lessons in Discipleship
I recently had the chance to share on the New Churches website about lessons in discipleship. The feedback has been really positive, so I’m sharing what I wrote for their blog here. I hope you enjoy. 40 Lessons in Discipleship Discipleship is the key to movemental thinking when it comes to churches that plant churches. Here are 40 lessons in discipleship and mentoring that …
None Shall Make Them Afraid
One of the most pressing pastoral concerns of our day is addressing the overwhelming fear that binds us in the Western world, and particularly in the United States. The noted writer Marilynne Robinson has an essay in her recent collection The Givenness of Things that boldly names this pervasive culture of fear in which we live (I highly recommend reading …
Why Wait?
In this season of Advent we learn about waiting. Waiting is painful. It brings anxiety and sometimes causes us to wonder where God is or if he cares. The prophet Malachi spoke of the Messiah’s coming in an eponymous Old Testament book: I have loved you, saith the LORD…Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before …