The Great Commission, as it is called, in Matthew’s gospel is “Therefore, go, and make disciples . . . “ (Mt. 28:19). Literally, the text reads, “Make disciples as you are going.” Yet despite the clear outward focus from the word “go” and “make disciples”, somehow this verse is sometimes…

Recently I was blessed to be able to take a trip to Scotland to visit one of our missionaries there. Following this, I went Lindisfarne Island to take a seminar in "Exploring the Celtic Heritage," a class offered through Fuller Theological Seminary, taught by John and Olive Drane.

This was a seminar that I had long wanted to take, and it was quite an…

Last Sunday night, my wife Becki and I went over the home of one of our neighbors, Venky and Sudha. They are from India (Andra Pradesh). We had a great time eating authentic Indian food and enjoying their home and company.

Venky was a doctor in India, but in order to be able to leave India and come to the US, he had to change his profession to that of an occupational therapist (it is hard for doctors to be allowed to leave India). And to get into the US, they…

Today the movie "Noah" is coming out to the big screen. And I want to share why Christians and churches should view this as a great opportunity to talk about their faith--and why it is foolish to waste time and energy attacking the film.

1. In our secular world, getting people thinking about God is a good thing. The problem with much of our culture today--and…

Anytime I hear someone talk about "telling the truth in love," I know that that there will be a lot of no bars held blasting of someone with little actual love or kindness. It is much like the phrase "love the sinner, hate the sin" (which only seems to be applied to homosexuality, for some reasons)--the end result is the person ends up feeling hated and has very little sense…

In John Maxwell's book, Amplified Leadership, Maxwell gives five primary ways that leaders use to inspire people to follow or embrace a vision and bring about positive change, including:

• Relationship - Relational leaders build strong relationships with people. They care about people, and other know. They spend time with people.…

There are a number of things involved and steps on the journey of a person going from being an unchurched person, non-Christian, or seeker, and become a baptized follower of Christ. Outlining all of the typical steps or aspects of an outreach strategy would be the subject of another post. 

However, one essential part of this outreach is having low key,…

Tim Keller has a new book out on suffering entitled, "Walking with God through Pain and Suffering."  From the review of this book from Christianity today, this looks like a great book.  

I love Tim Keller's…

"Good job." It is a common, polite response by members as they walk out the door of a worship service and shake the preacher's hand. Preachers are smart enough to know that by this response that they have not necessarily hit a "home run." Some people are sincere, some are just being polite. Some are really impacted, but do not know how or feel it necessary to expand. 

For those who pass preachers by and say, "Good job," know that this too is appreciated. After all,…

Tomorrow's sermon message is on "Love and Restoration." This message has me thinking about the role of punishment in love and restoration.

God's punishment of Israel and the destruction of whole peoples in the Old Testament is hard to understand. But Israel had become so utterly wicked--so much more wicked than we probably ever…

Anyone who follows such things has been disturbed by the utter collapse of Christianity in the UK. The US is increasingly becoming post-Christian as well, though we are quite a bit behind Europe on this still. 

Americans are often mocked for their geographic ignorance, and rightly so. But recently some Brits were asked to label a map of the United States, labeling the various states. Here is one of those attempts:

 …

Okay, so tomorrow at the Fairfax Church of Christ I am talking about how God's Spirit is inside of us, too, and that WE are called to authentically "preach" the good news too lovingly in word and deed (Luke 4).

And that if we pray and ask for these opportunities to do this, God will send them our way. But…

Have you ever had God just drop someone in your lap? Have him put someone right in your path?

Last week I received a text from someone whom I will call "Sarah." She said, "I don't know if this is still ur # but I was just thinking about y'all/ I really hope hope everyone's doing well. I really miss u.…

As I detailed in a recent post, our church has adopted a local elementary school. While the children in schools are often adopted, the teachers often are left out. So our church decided to help the teachers--who are underpaid and understaffed--in many ways, including providing them school supplies.

After the church delivered a ton of…

One of the primary challenges that the church and Christians have in the US is bad PR. Amongst non-Christians and non-church going folk, churches and Christians are unfortunately often portrayed and viewed as intolerant, bigoted, and self-serving.

Some of the primary challenges of public schools and school administrators are:…

In our fellowship, there has been a lot of debate about how to read Scripture (our hermeneutic). But while the traditional hermeneutic of "command, approved example, and necessary inference" is never laid out like this in Scripture, Jesus does give us an approved hermeuetic--himself.

On resurrection day in Luke 24, two disciples are walking on the road to Emmaus, They are depressed because Jesus had been killed, and they had put their hope in him.…

Wow. This Vanity Fair article reports that there are now laws in China requiring people to visit their parents. Laws are rarely effective in forcing people to practice these types of "moral issues." At best, it breeds legalistic, bare minimum compliance. Would it not be better to instill love and…

Here is the next generation--Gen X--in the Generations series.

Generation X (1965-1980)

- 46 million (added to with immigration) as opposed to 80 million Boomers, 78 million Millennials

- Parents: Silent and Boomer

- Children - Millennial and Digitals

1. Well-Known/Significant Gen Xers

• President - Barak Obama*   *(Note - President Obama was actually born in 1961; however, some generational studies start Gen X at 1961,…

Today, there are numerous, endless really, debates about "worship" (not only in Churches of Christ, but in other fellowships as well, though our debates seem to be of a different nature, perhaps). Still, these debates seem to miss the most fundamental issue in the Scriptures about the nature of worship today, which is this. Worship in the New Testament is not limited to a time or place, but is a constant, continual…