How to Choose and Tell the Right Story

There is something very basic and drawing about hearing a good story. The Bible is filled with story after story because life at its most basic level is broken down into a series of past events that are told and retold in each generation. Often the things that are best remembered about a sermon or [...]

20 and 30s Ministry is Growing

At a time when our ministry could being slowing up a bit in anticipation of a new child in October things are going faster than ever. Seeds were planted months ago that are now coming to fruition and ministry is being multiplied as leadership roles are being assigned, things are being delegated, and our 20 [...]

Wake Up Call on Evangelism

I am starting to see a parallel between the last 100+ years of evangelism and Acts 1:8. In Acts 1:8 Jesus tells his disciples that they will be witnesses in Jerusalem - Judea - Samaria - and the ends of the earth. The last 100 or so years of church growth has been a lot [...]

Dan Kimball’s Emerging Church

I have been reading up on the Emerging/Emergent church a little because I am invested in understanding and reaching out to people who have grown up with a postmodern perspective. Kimball splits this book into two halves - the first half is theoretical to help the reader understand the underlying cultural concepts that are a [...]

Moving From Contemplating the Biblical Navel to Real Application

I am guilty of writing a bunch of thoughts, opinions, and various and sundry other ways of contemplating the biblical navel and end the discussion gaining little more than having thought about something a little more or with a slight nuance. How many of you feel your life has never been the same since reading [...]

The Rightnow Campaign - Excellent Resources for Reaching 20 and 30 Somethings

If you work with 20-39 year olds have a look at the Right Now Campaign. They put out some excellent work, put on conferences, and engage young adults in making a difference in the world all in the name of Jesus. They go beyond writing and speaking and get to work actually doing something about [...]

Five Characteristics of a Good Small Group Leader

In line with the last post about five characteristics of a good teacher, here are five characteristics of a good small group leader.
They know the purposes of the group and continually model and teach the group to carry out those purposes. Small group leaders are volunteers and they, like the rest of us, often have [...]

Five Characteristics of a Good Teacher

When people talk about churches one of the things they typically remember most are the people who made the subject come to life for them in a Bible class. They made it real and relevant and like it was the most important thing they could have been doing at the moment. There are a couple [...]

Gospel of Mark - Common Mission & Message (6:6b-30)

Mark is certainly a delicious book with all of the sandwiches he leaves throughout the narrative. We have another sandwich in Mark 6.
Crust - Jesus Sends out the Twelve (6:6b-13)
Meat - John the Baptist Beheaded (6:14-29)
Crust - The Twelve Return (6:30-30)
The inner part always illuminates the outer part. What does that have to teach us [...]

What Message Are We Sending?

Missy and I were driving back from a wedding on Saturday. It was pouring down rain, visibility was very limited and we were going about 60 miles an hour at 11:00 at night. All of a sudden a truck passed us going at least 90 with that big sticker on the back tailgate that reads [...]