Your Church is Closer to Planting than You Probably Think

One of the reasons why most churches do not participate in church planting is that they believe it to be something grandiose and outside of their reach.  Pastors often listen to the exceptional, ten-talented, high capacity church planter and assume that one must be like him to do church planting the “right” way. “We don’t [...]

Read More About - Your Church is Closer to Planting than You Probably Think »

Eschatology-the study of last things–is extremely important to the health of the Church.  As Kingdom citizens, we know that the Bible has much to say about people’s eternal state, the return of Christ, the end of the world as we know it, and how we should live in light of such realities. However, in the [...]

Read More About - Removing the Eschatological Thread from Life »

Sociologist Erving Goffman drew from the theatrical metaphor when he helped us understand that life involves front-stage and back-stage actions.  The presentation of self in everyday life occurs differently when we are in public and around certain individuals/crowds (front-stage) and when we are alone or in private situations (back-stage).  The manager of a restaurant presents [...]

Read More About - The Real Deal or No Deal »

Imagine life without the ubiquitous @. It is not hard to do, if you can think back to the late 80s and early 90s.  Twitter was non-existent, and email was scarce. Oh sure, the accountants of the world were used to that symbol.  It had much value to them:  “at the rate of” $10.00 for…. [...]

Read More About - Remember the @ »

They have been called: America’s Primary Mission Field World’s Most Fruitful Mission Field 4/14 Window And if that is the case, then why do we keep sending babysitters to them when our churches gather? Those who teach children are some of the most important leaders in our churches.  Unfortunately, we often relegate such laborers to [...]

Read More About - Stop Sending Babysitters to the Mission Field »

What do we do when we don’t know what to do? This is a question we ask often. “I am fasting, praying, reading the Word, seeking wisdom in a multitude of counselors, but I am still not certain what to do.” Great! Keep up such practices! Such are wonderful disciplines of disciples! “Yes, but how [...]

Read More About - Faithful-Doing When You Don’t Know What to Do »

I am excited and thankful to share that Strangers Next Door: Immigration, Migration, and Mission is now available! We live in the age of migration.  214 million people are presently living outside of their countries of birth.  That is 3% of the world’s population.  If this number represented a single country, then it would be [...]

Read More About - Strangers Next Door »

We want to start with the extraordinary.  Iron Man. The Incredible Hulk. “We want the high caliber, high capacity-type to lead this ministry.  For apart from these we can do nothing. We want Superman, not the Greatest American Hero!” We want to use the extraordinary to reach the world. “If only our church had some [...]

Read More About - When the Ordinary Does the Extraordinary »

I am excited and thankful to share with you that my latest book has been released by Thomas Nelson.  Kingdom Expressions: Trends Influencing the Advancement of the Gospel provides an overview of the most influential gospel advancing movements and trends in the latter 20th and early 21st centuries. Over a year ago, Thomas Nelson approached [...]

Read More About - Kingdom Expressions: Trends Influencing the Advancement of the Gospel »

I recently spoke with a church planting leader for a particular denomination.  As we talked over coffee, he inquired about the direction of our church when it comes to church planting.  My response was to describe our future missionary labors in terms like we read about in Acts 13-14; 16; 20; 1 Thess 1:2-10; and [...]

Read More About - When a Biblical Model is Viewed as Unusual »