Archive for 2009
In Acts 12 Herrod gets a great idea to persecute the leaders of the new sect of Christ-followers. He arrested and executed James, the brother of John, close friend of Jesus, and former business partner of Peter. That won the “king” political points with the Jews, so he promptly seized […]
Read More...Dear Friends, In my fifth year serving as the Dean of Students at LIFE Pacific College, I can honestly say that being a part of the College has been great. While there I have been able to fulfill a long held dream to inspire Christ-focused students by serving in a […]
Read More...Luke 4 reflects the amazing journey that Jesus took from baptism to anointed ministry. I’ve read verse 32 often and thought “I want to minister with authority like Jesus did”—and that’s a healthy desire, because He calls us to serve with that same grace (John 14:12). But how do we […]
Read More...In 2009, the church seems to be more and more concerned about being relevant. I don’t think that is necessarily a bad thing. Like missionaries, we want to understand our culture and communicate the message of the cross in a language they can understand. But what does being relevant really […]
Read More...People define the local church in many ways. Even in the New Testament, though there are some ecclesiological imperatives, there also seems to be much room for unique structures and creative styles from city to city, and from church to church. Here are a few pictures that help express how […]
Read More...Many of us find it nearly impossible to stay still. “If you’re not moving, you are dying”; sometimes that seems like the battle cry of our culture. We feel we must maintain momentum—the big MO—in personal and organizational life at all costs. To sit still and wait is a vice; […]
Read More...This morning in my devotions I found myself wrestling over Jeremiah 34. Here God’s people had made a decision to obey His directive to set their slaves free. But, like many of us, after they made the decision to walk in obedience, they went back on that promise because it […]
Read More...A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of speaking in the pulpit of East Hill Church in Gresham, Oregon. This Church means a lot to me, as its last three leaders are men of God who I respect. Jerry Cook is, in my opinion, a rock star (though […]
Read More...This is part deux of my most recent blog post. Though I learned quite a bit about myself— including about some obsessive patterns—during my online slow-down, I am in no way suggesting we throw out the baby with the bathwater. Telling someone to stop emailing or Facebooking because they do […]
Read More...Six weeks ago, I told everyone that I would take the month of July off of blogging, twittering, and Facebooking. I also declared that I would check my email infrequently and only get on the Internet when I needed to. This was in response to a growing dependence on electronic […]
Read More...July is going to be Internet Independence Month for me. While I appreciate technology and use it as a tool for my ministry and personal life, I’ve noticed something lately: down time has been hijacked by a constant need to check-in and reconnect to the electronic communications grid that I’ve […]
Read More...Fathers day, 2009. I’m speaking at church to dads (including myself) about the fact that as fathers we are called to nothing less than represent God to our children. Like it or not, the way our kids see God as Father will depend quite a bit on how we model […]
Read More...The other day I overheard someone talk about how church organizations (in general) and pastors (in specific) need to be “more professional”. Regardless of how I feel about that statement, I found myself playing along, and asking myself the following question: “So, what type of professional should the church be?” […]
Read More...As I was reading Ephesians 4 and 5 this morning, something jumped out at me. The wisdom about how to live a life worthy of the calling we have received is at the same time deeply powerful and intensely practical. To begin to mine the depths of this wonderful calling, […]
Read More...I just returned from a week of gathering with other leaders from my extended church family. This convention is something that I have tried to attend since I became a pastor 17 years ago and I have been at each of the last 12 of these assemblies. It’s not because […]
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