I am doing a bit of blogging through Michael Frost's bookThe Road to Missional. In this book he revives the long running debate about whether or not mission and/or evangelism includes social action…

Today, I saw this posted on Facebook:

Lindsey Flenniken  Cyndi Moncada…

We live in a pragmatic, impatient society. There are a lot of theories about a lot of different things out there. But who knows if they are true? Science was recently the ultimate authority. But look at the recent scandal over global warming, where scientists were cooking the books.

Whatever your view on climate change, it makes you wonder what other data is…

Churches across the United States are shrinking. In fact, every single fellowship, including Churches of Christ, is on the decline. It used to be said that healthy churches grow. In today's climate, with a shrinking percentage of the population being Christian, healthy churches may not necessarily grow. They may shrink due to the overall decline of Christianity in our culture. 

It will take more than just church health to grow churches. It will take more than…

David Kinnamon's book, UnChristian, gave research results of young, non-Christians and their perceptions of Christianity. These results were eye opening.

Now David Kinnamon has written a new book…

I hope you laughed out loud when you read the above caption. I certainly did. I suppose it points out a sad truth--we know very little about discipleship.

In John 10, Jesus speaks extensively about how the good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. They know his voice, and they heed his call. 

What could perhaps be missed is that the…

"I weep over the pain and agony so many of you have experienced in your homes. Through no choice of your own, you had to suffer the anguish of broken families. So few of you enjoyed the security of knowing Mom and Dad would be faithful to each other for life. It saddens me to realize some of you even fear to marry because of the pain you experienced due to your parents’ broken marriages. That your Christian parents got divorced at the same rate as the rest of society is one of the most…

When will this cursed economy ever recover? I certainly have my views on the economic and political causes of this prolonged recession, which has been the worst since the Great Depression. But whatever the causes, the effects of this economy have been devastating. 

• There has been prolonged joblessness and extended unemployment. This inability of even…

Hi Friends.

I'm really not sure who reads this, but for those who do, you might be interested in the following:

1. here's the talk I gave at Momentum 2011 - Epic Jesus - you can listen to it free at http://www.ptmin.org/epicjesus

2. I'm still on my blog sabbatical, but plan to be blogging again soon. you can subscribe so you are notified and don't miss a post. I'm VERY excited about what's coming up…

This Sunday I am speaking on "Passionately Sharing Jesus," which is part of our vision statement. We can "share Jesus," but what does it mean to "passionately" share Jesus?

Passionately sharing Jesus implies that there are other ways that Jesus can be shared. Jesus can be shared out of duty, out of obligation, or out of response to a command. These are not bad motivations. We have been commanded by Jesus to "go, make disciples" (Mt. 28:18-20). But is there…

Jesus is our model for everything, including serving others. Paul says that our attitude ought to be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who took the “very nature of a servant” (Phil. 2:5-8). Jesus lived a life of service, healing people, feeding the hungry, casting out demons, and more. 

In Matthew 20:24-28, in dealing with a selfish dispute with James and John…

As a minister, I have performed a number of weddings. And whenever marrying someone, we have to discuss what type of wedding vows they will make--traditional, an updated variation, or something they or someone else has written. All can be great (Becki and I had my older cousin and longtime minister help us write our vows). There is, however, something quite profound about the…

A couple of days ago, I wrote a blog post that highlighted some of Rodney Clapp's points about capitalism and the family in his book, Families at the Crossroads, and his chapter, "Advanced Capitalism & the Lost Art…

Before Jesus went to the cross he said to his disciples, he talked about the love that disciples ought to have for one another:

34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (Jn. 13:14-15; cf. 1 Thess. 4:9-10; 2 Thes. 1:3; Heb. 13:1; 1…

I n his excellent book, Families at the Crossroad, Rodney Clapp has a chapter entitled, "Advanced Capitalism & the Lost Art of Christian Family." Clapp points out that American families have, of course, benefited in…

I apologize to my readers for the lack of posts this week. I have had fever, a sinus infection, and bronchitis. Not fun.

Anyway, I wanted to write a bit about blessing others. The concept of blessing people in daily life is something that goes back to the Abrahamic covenant, where God blessed Abraham so that he could be a blessing to others (Gen. 12). This is…

"How are you?" 

"Busy."

That is the standard response for most of us. No one responds to this question and says, "Well, I'm not doing much of anything right now. I'm actually very unproductive." And we wear this busyness almost as a badge of honor. Kevn Vanhoozer et. al, authors of…

Those of you who follow this blog know may recall that one of our new converts, Cyndi Moncada, led us to start serving at the Divine Children Christian Center, a daycare center in East McKinney. The woman that runs this daycare center is Yalonda Moore, a woman who received a kidney transfer and because of this, dedicated her life to serving…