Apprentice 2 Jesus

Church

  • God doesn’t need soldiers

    Some thoughts from Pope Leo XIV: ” Brothers, sisters… I speak to you, especially to those who no longer believe, no longer hope, no longer pray, because they think God has left. Read more

  • Remember the poor

    As I began to reflect HERE about Pope Leo XIV’s choice of name and possible direction of his papacy, I wanted to reflect more on Pope Leo XIII and the encyclical, “On Capital and Labor” written in 1891. Read more

  • Pope Leo XIV

    An American pope. And immediately, ideologues are tearing into Pope Leo’s upbringing, teachings, actions, and how close he was or wasn’t to Pope Francis. We want him pigeonholed as quickly as possible so we can give our hot takes and then move on with how we will treat him going forward. Read more

  • Bonhoeffer, the Barmen Declaration, and resistance

    The Confessing Church in Germany saw the dangers of Nazism encroaching and in 1934, leaders met in the city of Barmen-Wuppertal to put together a declaration that would magnify their Christian convictions and point out areas of dissent. Read more

  • Bonhoeffer’s powerful question

    Bonhoeffer asked this significant question in the early 1930s. It is one I constantly ask in my decades of following Christ as well: Read more

  • The messy kingdom

    The gospel of Jesus Christ is more political than anyone imagines, but in a way that no one guesses… The political metaphor, “kingdom,” insists on a gospel that includes everything and everyone under the rule of God. God is no religious glow to warm a dark night. Christ is no esoteric truth with which to… Read more

  • Facing the apocalypse

    Anxiety is up. Frustration is high. Anger boils over. AI will take over the world. “I, Robot” was right all along. Read more

  • The bravery and anxiety of closing a church

    Then I told them once more, “Go in peace to love and serve your neighbors.” I know that I may never see some of those people ever again. Read more

  • Lessons on intercession from Daniel

    The more I walk through Daniel the more I see it as a master class on intercession. Years ago I tried to develop a series called “Living in Babylon” based on Daniel. I taught on Daniel, blogged on Daniel, did podcasts on Daniel. And more than ever I am convinced we need his example. American… Read more

  • A confession: I am a big fat failure

    Ezekiel 2:1-7 The biblical calling to a ministry is so different than the “call” Western Christianity calls people to. Ezekiel is called to the prophetic ministry. That has a certain connotation in certain Charismatic/Pentecostal circles, and I would venture to guess that the picture we have in our minds is different than Ezekiel’s call. Read more