Apprentice 2 Jesus

Discipleship/Spiritual Formation

  • The way of reform

    I posed a question about reformation the other day, taking it from Chuck DeGroat’s post. Why isn’t the more beautiful way of Jesus compelling to us? What is the way forward? Do we want it? I came across a newsletter from Renovate that reposted a letter from Richard Foster he penned in 2000. What amazing… Read more

  • How do we think of “scandal”

    Chuck DeGroat wrote a post on “scandal” where he was asked what the worst scandal he had seen in his years of work. Like any of us, he thought of “big name” pastors or “big name” churches. Singular events that caused quite a stir. I certainly can look back in my lifetime and think of… Read more

  • The elusiveness of beauty

    The trouble with beauty, then, may not be that it resists definition. The trouble is that it refuses to remain an idea. Beauty asks something of us. It invites attention. It calls us beyond ourselves. It awakens longing for things that are true, good and whole. (More HERE) In the past few weeks I have… Read more

  • Defining discipleship

    …as a disciple of Jesus I am with him, by choice and by grace, learning from him how to live in the kingdom of God. This is the crucial idea. That means I am learning how to live within the range of God’s effective will, with his life flowing through mine. Another important way of… 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

  • Living in faith and fire

    Hebrews 12:28–29 (NIV): 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”  Read more

  • We need a new “Confessing Church”

    There are times of decision and we’ve been in a decade of choice… and somehow still refuse to make the one away from worldly power. Still, there are many who realize the moment in which we live and maybe there is a ripple of movement for a new “Confessing Church” of some sort. “If you… Read more

  • Where I currently find “home”

    I am going through notes for a book I want to write on Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship (what we’ve called The Cost of Discipleship in American publishing), the Book of Revelation, and the prophetic call they give concerning White Christian Nationalism. Read more

  • The true foolishness of Christianity

    Rachel Held Evans is quoted by Starlette Thomas’s new book, Take Me to the Water, about the oddity of baptism. It marks just how odd Christianity truly is. Read more

  • Why it is still Jesus

    I am working my way through my notes from a few weeks ago when I went through Bonhoeffer’s Discipleship and the Book of Revelation. I am challenged by Bonhoeffer’s thoughts. Some notes I took from his book: Read more