Search Results for: church

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭16:13‬ ‭NLT‬‬ Jesus’ interaction with the disciples at Caesarea Philippi is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but the classic and most complete account is found in Matthew’s Gospel. Mark’s and…

I had not been at the church for long when I met the head coach of our local high school. He attended our church, and we struck up a great friendship. One day, he invited me to share a devotional thought with the team before the game and then stand on the sidelines with them….

The Disciple-Making Leader (The Optimal Path) is one who as they advance down the The Disciple-Making Pathway they also are given opportunities to move up the Leadership Pipeline. This means that as a leader deepens their spiritual maturity, they are given support, training, and opportunities to grow in different ministry skills. This integration ensures that…

Dear Discipleship-first Friends, I’m going to be honest. I am hit – way more than I care to admit – with the realization that my agenda is my agenda and not God’s. I might have just preached a sermon about God’s will that Sunday, but my life is more about my will. Yes, I desire…

Dear Discipleship-first Friends, God’s Will… Period. I’m sure you’re familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. I wonder if we get too familiar with the Lord’s Prayer. We know the words. We know them so well that if someone started praying them out loud in a church service, like a kid saying the Pledge of Allegiance, we…

“Not for the faith of heart” is a phrase often used in our American culture. A topic one morning in my men’s small group we dove into. Pouring over the book of 2 Corinthians, we discussed the trials the Apostle Paul and his companions faced (2 Corinthians 11:23-33): terrifying shipwrecks, beatings, snake bites, to name a…

Dear Discipleship-first Friends, This is the sixth and final article in our series on often-overlooked advice on how to lead a church in Jesus-styled disciple making. To recap, the first five areas of advice we looked at were: Don’t Announce the Revolution Preach and Normalize King Jesus Normalize Being a Disciple of Jesus Normalize Conformity…

Dear Discipleship-first Friends, Continuing with our series detailing often overlooked advice on leading a church in Jesus-style disciple making – we’ve covered a lot of ground with the first four articles (if you missed any of the previous articles, just click the links below): Don’t Announce the Revolution Preach and Normalize King Jesus Normalize Being…

This article is the fourth installment in a series of six, regarding what is often unspoken advice to follow while teaching that being a disciple of Jesus is mandatory in the local church: Don’t Announce the Revolution Preach and Normalize King Jesus Normalize Being a Disciple of Jesus However, the third and most recent post…