What Does History Say it Takes to Get A Movement Moving?
Humans, Churches and Movements all have a life cycle. Churches and humans have roughly the same number of years in them (80-100 max). Movements also have a life cycle but can last far longer than a human/church lifecycle. In his book, “The Rise and Fall of Movements,” Steve Addison offers this chart on the life […]
Have Compassion
The more facts you pack in your brain the easier it is to lack compassion. It is hard to remember how little we knew at one point in time and how little we still know in the grand scheme of things. Jesus knew everything and yet he had compassion on people. If anyone could have […]
Embracing Both Scholarship and the Simplicity of the Ordinary
Jesus was not anti-intellecutal even though Jesus railed against some of the most intellectual people of His day. He wasn’t against people for being intellectual. He was against people for knowing so much and for still being so ignorant. Jesus not only knew the word. Jesus was the Word. There has never been a human […]
If You Are Going to Get Advice…
When I was 21 years old, I was running parents and their children through a manualized child behavior treatment program. I was young. I was unmarried. I had no kids. Often parents in the program would ask me how I knew what I was doing and why it was going to be successful (which it […]
The Two Key Things Your Bible Study Might Be Missing
When you look at movements that happen around the world there are two things that inevitably get paired with Bible study. The two things are obedience to what you read (are you living it, not just learning it) and sharing with others what you are learning so that they can benefit from it as well. […]
Five Tricks Satan Uses To Trap You
Here they are: 1 – Division. Satan loves to sow seeds of doubt that lead to division. He does this because a divided kingdom will not stand and will be ineffectual (Mark 3:25). 2 – Categories. Satan will put you in a category. He will give you a label. This label becomes you meta-narrative or […]
An Advent Scripture List That Works With Kids
Our house church (Backyard Church) walks through advent each year with two scripture lists. The first list is for the teens and adults. The second list are readings from “The Jesus Storybook Bible“. If you are looking for a list to walk through advent, then I hope you will download this simple list that can […]
Thankfulness Requires Remembering
We are at my mom’s house. She is going to sell it after living here for 30 years. This is, most likely, our last holiday in the house. As I walked through the rooms, I noticed my grandparents’ old kitchen table in one of the rooms with their old kitchen chairs. I sat in those […]
Why the Change?
Over the last few years I have been praying for God to help me with making disciples. He has come through over and over again. It has left me convicted that I need to share what I am learning along the way. There are lots of people who want to start but don’t know what […]
Revolution of Ordinaries?
The work that needs to be done to advance the kingdom is going to take a lot more than the current people on paid staff to get it done. That means we need to equip and educate everyone else…the “everyday Christians” to advance the kingdom. It turns out God has an amazing track record using […]