Search Results for: church

God’s intentionality in my life never ceases to amaze me. Seasons of transition and change are never easy, and this season began with my wife and I feeling released from our old church: the church where we thought we’d grow old. We were both on staff at that church, and we had been dreaming of…

“Why is every donut shop in California the same?” That was a question I asked multiple people after moving my family to SoCal in 2015 to plant a church.  It was an honest question that came from my experience of visiting multiple independently owned Mom and Pop donut shops. Here’s what I observed in my…

Kade* is a new follower of Jesus among the Moko* people. He lives in a large village of about 2,000 people. He is probably the only follower of Jesus in his village, and there are almost no Christians among his language group of 70,000 people. But almost two years ago, an African Vineyard church planter…

Church leaders like to measure things. We measure attendance, salvations, baptisms, and the offering. And that’s a good thing! Measuring matters and helps you do a better job as a church. The key question, however, is: what is the most important thing we measure? What metric is the single most important metric in Christ’s Church? If…

Mason Carmichael’s Story: Netflix, dinner alone, sleep, repeat. That’s how every evening went for me back in 2017. And I thought I wanted it that way. A few months before, I had decided to walk away from a staff position at my church to take a job in sales. I moved 40 minutes down the road, leaving…

“Spiritual formation into Christlikeness involves an intentional public, personal, and communal commitment to living as Jesus’ disciples who are being transformed into His image in all aspects of our lives as we learn to obey His commands.” [1] Have you ever received a phone call that dramatically, unimaginably, and positively changed your life? I’m not talking about…

There’s a good chance you’ve heard The Parable of the Three Bricklayers.  There are several variations of this story but it’s important to know they are all rooted in real history.  After the Great Fire of 1666 that leveled London, the world’s most famous architect, Christopher Wren, was commissioned to rebuild St. Paul’s Cathedral.  One day,…

I’ll admit, I was late to the party – but I love the map apps on my phone. When the various map apps first came out, I was reluctant. I wasn’t keen on someone telling me to  “re-direct” my course. Now, I welcome the corrections and have no problem re-directing. Finding my way and arriving at…

We are in desperate need of disciple-making leaders in the church today. In my experience, these are rare finds. Instead, two types of leaders exist in most churches today; those who have never been discipled and those who have been discipled but never reach their leadership potential. Leaders who have never been discipled The first…

“I’m not good enough.” I don’t know why this thought established residence in my mind, but it did. Being “good enough” lives at the top of my list in the battle to obey and grow as greatest hurdle a disciple of Jesus. However, this phrase has been a powerful teacher, showing me the faithfulness of…

In two weeks, our youngest will return home from Basic Training. Back in the Spring, she enlisted in the Army Reserves, and her Basic Training at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri began in late Summer. After three and a half months away, she will return home a different person. She will return home a soldier….