Imaginatively Missional
In 1988, my best friend asked me to join him on a clandestine mission to smuggle the Jesus Film into Afghanistan. As our departure grew near so did our excitement. Backpacks, camping gear, thousands of dollars in cash, and 500lbs of film equipment boarded a plane for Karachi, Pakistan as did two young and idealistic …
One only needs to consult an online job board to observe the vast number of staff openings in churches across the United States. As do others, I receive regular requests from headhunters for recommendations of people to fill this or that ministry position. However, a question has been raised, at least in my mind, regarding …
Continue reading "The Solution to Your Church Staffing Needs"
Much has been written in recent days about "white evangelicals" and there is just as much emotion conjured up when seeing the term. Those on the political right are often offended by the moniker as it attacks their truncated theological heritage. Those on the political left use it as a power word against a theologically …
Continue reading "Are White Evangelicals Really the Problem?"
The imagery and symbols are clear. Church and state have never truly been separated in the United States. From its inception, the marriage of religion and politics has been a powerful force to unite pundits around political ideologies. It doesn't matter if the ideologies are conservative or liberal, invoking faith during an inaugural address or …
Continue reading "Seven Sins of American Evangelical Civil Religion"
During my doctoral studies in the early 2000s, Paul Hiebert shared a story that I have never forgotten. Dr. Hiebert was a master at using illustrations and case studies to highlight essential missiological principles. His years of experience in India and as a world renowned missiological anthropologist made those attending his classes sit on the edge of …
Sitting on the credenza behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office is the bust of Latino civil rights leader César Chávez. Other leaders of the movement decorating the most powerful place on the planet—Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Robert F. Kennedy—give a clear signal to the 46th US president’s agenda for America. Among his …
Continue reading "Hang On! It’s going to be another bumpy four years!!"
On January 6th while the 117th Congress gathered to certify the 2020 election, an individual who identifies himself as Crazy Cripple filmed a group marching on the street toward the US Capitol. At about the 2 minute mark in the video, the group stops to pray. Ahead of the prayer, someone announces, “If you’re on …
The Christian movement in Asia Minor is a wonderful example of a group of churches and APEST leaders who took doctrine and morality seriously. Writing to a few of these churches in Ephesus less than four decades after Paul's initial engagement of people in the city began (Acts 19), Jesus applauded them for the good …
It seems to be a regular occurrence these days. Another evangelical pastor falls into moral failure. Carl Lentz is the latest causality. The celebrity pastor of Hillsong Church’s New York City branch is a further example of the dark side of hierarchical leadership where a pastor-centric ecclesiology places a charismatic person as the lead of …
Jesus was often counter-cultural. He upset a lot of people because He would frequently break the status quo and do the will of His Father (Matthew 12:50) instead of “following the rules” society had established. On the heels of the vice presidential debate and the “super spreading” event that caused the hospitalization of the president …
Years ago when I was a student involved in Cru at Texas A&M, a single photocopied sheet circulated among students allegedly originating from Dr. Bill Bright. As I recall the story, Dr. Bright had been studying John and Charles Wesley’s Holy Club that had formed on the campus of Oxford in 1729. The club composed …
It is sometimes refreshing to look back in Christian history to be reminded once again of those events upon which we stand. Where we are today did not occur in a vacuum or in isolation from the past. In a very real sense, the past shapes who we are in the present and reminds us …
I believe in God's sovereignty, not in a fatalistic way or a double predestination one. Rather, God superintends His creation in such a manner to ensure that His will is completed. The Book of Revelation gives us a picture of the completion of that will: And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you …
Continue reading "The Lesser of Two Evils and God’s Sovereignty"
Yesterday was national daughter's day. I'm not sure when that national day came into being, but we have a daughter who merits being recognized for at least one day out of a year if not every day. Michaela and I were having another one of our great theological conversations. They are getting increasingly rare, not …
If you have been following the news regarding Grace Community Church and its pastor John MacArthur’s battle in the courts of California, you might be thinking this is one of those complex issues confronting Christian churches across the country. Watch the latest video at foxnews.com The claim that California is prohibiting the freedom to worship …
With less than 60 days until the 2020 presidential election, who would Jesus vote for? Both evangelical Democrats and Republicans would no doubt claim He would vote for their candidate. Even more, both sides would argue that their political party best represents the values of the Kingdom of God. Admittedly, there are those who see …
Leadership sets the tone for the direction of a movement. In fact, one might argue that a movement will rise or fall largely on its leadership. To understand the effective movement leadership that we see in the New Testament is to understand the theocentric focus of the leaders. This leadership imbues a profound sense of …
Social justice has become a polarizing term that has set Christians against each other. Contributing to the confusion are social theories such as critical theory and critical race theory where social justice tends to focus on opposing systemic issues where an oppressor group has disadvantaged other groups. Such theories, when applied by Christians, tend to …
In early November 2019, I sat in a room of Christians comprised of various traditions: Coptic, Orthodox, Syriac, Catholic, and evangelical. The location did not escape my attention as the group of about 50 members of the Lausanne Orthodox Initiative, an issue group of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization, a movement started in 1974 …
During the course of my research for When Evangelicals Sneeze: Curing the American Church from the Plague of Identity Loss, I came across many comments about evangelicals. Some of them were from evangelicals in other parts of the world talking about American evangelicals. Some were evangelical Democrats talking about evangelical Republicans and vice versa. Others …
The Bible might be a good place to start when attempting a definition of evangelical. After all, every Christian denomination in the world would claim that they are the correct manifestation of the church, at least as they would interpret the Bible. The problem remains, we would be hard pressed to say that there were …
The July 8, 2020 release of the Barna Group’s latest study on the State of the Church has confirmed what some have suspected would occur as a result of COVID-19. The study revealed that 32 percent of practicing Christians stopped attending church, whether in person or online, since the outbreak of the virus. While the …
Continue reading "What would you do if you knew that one-third of your friends would leave church?"
Are you struggling with American evangelicalism like I am? It’s gotten to the point that I almost don’t recognize a theological tradition that I’ve identified with for more than 30 years. In my recent book, I share my concerns for loosing our identity. You’ll read about how the majority of evangelicals live outside of the …
Now is a time to empower people to use their gifts (2 Tim 1:3-6), inspire them to join in hardship (2 Tim 1:8-14), entrust them to teach faithful people to carry on the mission (2 Tim 2:1-7), and remind them to preach the word in season and out of season (2 Tim 3:16-4:2). This little …
Are buildings, butts in seats, and bucks the measure of success for the church today? What about transformation of lives resulting in cultural impact? Join us as we continue our conversation on the state of the church in America. Keelan Cook joins our podcast to help us think through the shift needed for gospel impact. …
Continue reading "Ep 29: The State of the Church in America – Part 2"
What is the state of the church in America? Join our podcasters as they reflect on their participation at a recent Church Planting think tank held at Wheaton College with the Send Institute. In spite of the decline of the church in the US, there is hope for a future movement of multiplying disciples. To …
Continue reading "Ep 25: The State of the Church in America"
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