Given the travesties the church has committed in the past and the nonsense it still gets stuck in today, it’s tempting to just chuck the whole notion of religion into the waste bin of failed concepts. Mighty tempting, indeed. Especially …
I’m going to be completely vulnerable and share how grace and accountability have informed my own struggles with this. One night in 2010, around eleven, Elicia was in the bathroom, getting ready for bed, and the door between us was …
What would it look like if we reformed ourselves to look like the Kingdom Jesus spoke about, if we lived the pure, undefiled religion James wrote about? How could we reshape our churches into real communities of faith in which …
Read moreWhat Church Looks Like When We Actually Follow Jesus
Chris, the pastor of a church Roy and I were working with, frequently challenged the congregation to become disciple makers. But only a few people were catching the vision. Even for these precious few it was hard, because they were …
Couples should use speech that builds up. In Ephesians, Paul describes language that edifies the person we’re speaking with. Edification includes constructive criticism given in humility, allowing the person receiving those words to correct behavior not conducive for togetherness. When …
We were finally in the car headed to Palisade, Colorado. After nine months of going through The 2:7 Series®, it was time for all of us to get away together for a weekend of fun. We had all been going …
You might be familiar with the old Star Trek episodes in which Captain Kirk would encounter unknown life-forms on new planets and declare, “We come in peace!” Sometimes I think this declaration should be a mandatory starting point when engaging …
“You won’t believe what happened this week!” Carmen said as she entered our sharing time beaming with enthusiasm. “A friend at work came up to me and asked, ‘What’s been so different about you these last few weeks? Something’s going …
We have just come off what seemed like a month of parties: thirty-one days in which it would appear all of society tried to cram a party into each 24-hour period. Why not, may I suggest, party twelve months of …
If we are Christ followers, we’re not raising mere dependents—we’re raising up disciples! Our children will do what we say for only a little while; soon they will begin doing what we do. Their eyes are watching what we do, …