Search Results for: church

THINKING CHRISTIANLY  One of the major critiques of Christianity from agnostics and atheists is that we have a “blind faith,” one that leans more on superstition and myth than on any form of reasoned support or critique. This argument stems from the influence of the Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries that still has…

Pastor Walter and his compassion Looking out over the 600,000 people living in the poorest part of Lima, Peru, you can almost feel the oppression. Many of these people came out of the jungles with absolutely nothing and settled in “squatter”shacks on the outskirts of the massive city of 7 million. For the longest time, there…

“A disciple is a disciple, right?” “Every disciple looks different.” Maybe you’ve heard or even asked these types of questions at some point in time. I know I have. However, the crucial question is, “What kind of disciples are we making?” The only question that might be more important is, “Are we actually making any…

Too often, strategy remains in the clouds and never touches the people on the ground. I’m not saying our church strategies are holistically ineffective, but that without proper intentionality and resolve, the impact may never reach the people we are trying to serve. This is the ministry trap that all church leaders must resist; we…

The synoptic gospels (the ones not written by the apostle John) each record Jesus’ teaching about what is commonly called The Great Commandment.  This four part instruction from the Lord forms a summary of the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai (cf. Exodus 20). Matthew and Mark each give Jesus’ response…

Middle school kids are high energy!!  No surprise for anyone that’s spent 5 minutes with middle schoolers.  What is surprising is how, knowing that, we try to get them to be calm, quiet, sit still and think, with their not yet fully developed brains. Once upon a time I was a part time Jr High…

Spiritually mature middle school students? Does this sound like an oxymoron? A pipe dream? Isn’t the best we can possibly hope for simply surviving middle school? Maybe it’s good for us to remind ourselves what Jesus looked like as a middle school boy. “And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom,…

You are home from a trip to a developing country that is more than six time zones away. The journey back to your home country took more than 24 hours, which means you had airline food and slept on the airplane—if we can call that sleep. Once you arrive home, you take one day to…

The following is an excerpt from Dave Buehring’s book “The Great Opportunity” As long as I can remember, there has been a perceived gulf between those in “secular jobs” and those in “the ministry.” Ministry folks appeared to be more sacrificial and spiritual, while those working in the secular realm were perceived to be a…

When I first came to Bethel, to my surprise, there were people who were interested in getting to know me. At first, I was cautious. I often thought in my mind, “are these people for real?”, “what’s their motive?” Over the next several weeks/months, it became clear these people had a genuine interest in knowing…