In Part 1 we talked about making room in your life for the Word. The Bible is God’s most direct way to speak to us – it communicates His thoughts, feelings, and commands perfectly. If we are not just blowing smoke at God, then spending time in His Word and praying are going to build our closeness to God.
If you’re at all like me though, you have questions for God that aren’t spelled out the way you want [read more] ...
Although we read often of the sayings and works of Jesus throughout the Gospels, we often forget that there are things that Jesus did once and for all. Of course, the main act of his sacrifice on the cross for our sins and the sins of all mankind is one we remember. However, another act Jesus did once and for all was to pray for you:
“My prayer is not for them alone. I also pray for those who will believe [read more] ...
I’ve just about finished the book Mastering the Management Buckets, by John Pearson, former director of the Willow Creek Association. Early in the book Pearson quotes management guru Peter Drucker, saying, “Results are obtained by exploiting opportunities, not by solving problems.” In one sentence, Drucker nails a common problem with so many church leader’s linear way of thinking. Let me elaborate.
Thought #1: The church is not doing well because we have problems. Thought #2: If I can just [read more] ...Don’t you wish some parts of the Bible weren’t there?
Many of us are practical Marcionites. Marcion was the second century heretic who ditched most of the Bible, as he didn’t like the God it portrayed. Marcion was denounced then, and since, by the Church, but the reality is that many of us act like him in our reading of the Bible.
I have a confession to make – whenever my Bible reading plan gets round to Leviticus I feel a sense [read more] ...
Discipleship and disciple-making is somewhere at the core of what it looks like for the church to live out Jesus’ mission in our world today. And because of this we ought to find ourselves submerged in the Scriptures. At it’s essence discipleship is simply the process of becoming more and more like Jesus in our motivations and actions (cf. Mark 3:14-15).
But somewhere along the way a subtle or not-so-subtle problem can arise: we can mistake discipleship for the mechanics of [read more] ...
So, you think you can be an effective leader without also constantly studying and learning? It’s so easy in a leadership position to find excuses for not being a reader:
Too busy to read I read enough in college to last a lifetime There is nothing else I need to know to do my job effectively People should be learning from me, rather than me learning from others I’m being paid to lead, not to read Reading to study from others is a sign of weakness [read more] ...If I hear another church leader refer to the Bible as a “Manual for life” I think I’m going to throw up in my mouth. A manual for life; are you kidding me? If the Bible is a manual for life it’s a very bad manual. For example, today I made the decision to fix my 196,000 mile Camry rather than leave it alone and let it ride off into the sunset. It would have been helpful to have a [read more] ...
Social media is the hot thing right now. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social networks are growing exponentially. More and more of us are “life-casting” our every activity, thought and feeling via YouTube, Ustream, and blogs. We are becoming a very public society.
I want to ask you a question. “Who’s Following You?”
I get multiple friend requests on Facebook and dozens of new follower notices from Twitter each day. Many are friends from High School or [read more] ...