John Newton was in trouble. The battering waves and violent winds beat against the bow of his ship to the point that all hope was lost. In utter despair, John cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us!” Reflecting back, those words were the turning point for this wayward man. John grew up on the ocean. […]
It was late in Jesus’ ministry. He knew that His time on earth was coming to a close. Jesus turned to His disciples and stated plainly, “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is still day, night is coming when no one can work,” (John 9.4 ESV). The work Jesus […]
Busyness can choke out your effectiveness! It was the only time I’ve ever hit my mother-in-law. She was busily preparing a special luncheon, and I could tell she was a bit nervous. Her son was bringing home the girl he planned to marry, and this was going to be their first meeting. Suddenly the doorbell […]
Once a leader knows what a disciple looks like and understands Jesus’ four-step process for making disciples and begins to actively invest his life in people, then he is ready to raise up a team of disciple makers. Ministry is not something you do in isolation; rather it is something you do in community. Far […]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer grew up in an upper middle-class German family of doctors and scientists. So when he told his parents that he wanted to study theology, they were not that excited. Dietrich later became one of the world’s foremost theologians and thinkers of the 20th century. He is not remembered as much for his public […]
Fear can hold you back, but the Spirit can make you bold. Probably the biggest excuse that keeps us from talking about Jesus is fear. We are afraid to talk to someone we don’t know. We are afraid of how they will respond. We are afraid of looking foolish or saying the wrong thing. We […]
Everyone is tempted, but how you handle temptation is very important to your walk with Jesus, and your own spiritual health. Maybe you have been fighting the same temptation for years without being able to shake it off. It’s like a broken record of temptation – sin, regret, repeat. How do you break that cycle? […]
Before you dive into making disciples in your church, let me encourage you with a few Do’s and Don’ts. Often pastors, in their zeal to make disciples, inadvertently do things that actually make it harder for them to do so effectively. So here are some practical warnings. Don’t start casting vision about disciple making immediately. […]
As you invest your life in people, some will disappoint you. There will be people you poured your life into who never really take hold of Jesus and follow Him completely. There will be some that start strong but fall away. Others will oppose you and resist any investment you try to make in their […]
Is God all powerful or all loving? Several years ago, I saw Martin Bashir, a news anchor for MSNBC at the time, interviewing a pastor on national television following a tsunami that killed more than 15,000 people in japan. He started with a question: “Help us with this tragedy in Japan. Which of these is […]