Church Life
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I have been encouraged by a mentor of mine to put together some thoughts on ministry. It’s meant to be an encouragement for pastors who… well… pastor. It’s more about the ministry and call of pastoring as opposed to all the leadership material we have right now. Mark Galli’s piece, of course, pre-empts all my… Read more
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A new survey going around Facebook shows that churches are more stingy than ever. It’s the kind of fodder we seem to like. For cynics, it’s just another bullet in the gun for them. For Christians, it’s yet another way to beat ourselves up. For the church I pastor I want to say this survey… Read more
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I have LOTS of full days… and they get strung together and keep on going. Yet, in the midst of those full days I find such joy. The past few Sundays at my church have been incredibly encouraging for me. There is a hunger rising up in people. We had a prayer retreat a week… Read more
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Scot McKnight makes the comparisons of how the New Testament seems to be talking about Gospel… and how we “gospel” today. He pulls no punches. When all we care about is bringing people to a decision, to pray a prayer, to just admit their sin and find Jesus as Savior, we are doing damage. Jesus… Read more
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What did Jesus call us to? Get people to a decision… or call on us to follow him? Scot McKnight is highlighting this powerfully in his book, The King Jesus Gospel, but Dallas Willard was doing so before. And for some reason… we’re still not paying attention. I was in a very uncomfortable conversation yesterday… Read more
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In preparation for our church’s prayer retreat this weekend I am reading through Acts. When I come to Acts 10, I pray through this scenario and ask challenging questions. I will never forget several years ago working my way through this passage and asking, “Lord, what segment of our society today would be like the… Read more
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Today seems to be a day where a bunch of preachers are going to “climb into their pulpits” and brazenly give their political views. First of all, not too many conservative evangelicals (and that is what they are talking about in this story) “climb into pulpits.” They kind of dance onto a stage, I think.… Read more
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Pope Benedict made the following comments about Pentecostalism: The geography of Christianity has changed dramatically in recent times, and is in the process of changing further. Faced with a new form of Christianity, which is spreading with overpowering missionary dynamism, sometimes in frightening ways, the mainstream Christian denominations often seem at a loss. This is… Read more
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Marc Cortez offers some thoughts on why being a heretic is so doggone attractive. (HERE) It’s true. Being orthodox is actually work… and who these days wants that? Read more
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Rob Bell is leaving his church to get out to a wider audience. Rick Warren’s Twitter (or Tweet or whatever you’re supposed to call it) is interesting. Read more
Apprentice 2 Jesus 