imagining how the church can reorient around mission

While enjoying a wonderful break with my family in Seaside, Oregon, I was able to carve out enough time to read Henri Nouwen's perceptive book entitled, Discernment. In the book, he makes several statements regarding how he spent much of his life craving affirmation, attention and acceptance of others. read more

As
I mentioned yesterday the idea of listening for God's direction in ministry and
mission is something that is critically important, but quite difficult.

In
thinking about how we are to listen it seems like there are three components
that have to be grappled with. read more

I have started on one of those “Read Through
the Bible in a Year” programs for 2013. I have done this annually for many years but
have dropped the practice in the last few for a variety of reasons.
Nonetheless, I believe it is vital to get the full scope of Scripture and there
are no shortcuts in getting there. You just have to sit down and read. I
believe that the Gospel is found in the entire Bible, not just in select verses
that evangelicals have hyper-focused on for the last several decades. It was
NT Wright and a few others who have asked the poignant question: Do we actually need
to read the whole of Scripture to arrive at a clear and full understanding of
the gospel?” Sadly, most will unequivocally say that you need to engage the
full corpus of Scripture, but in real time their lives deny the fact. 

Okay, to my point… while reading through the
Pentateuch I was once again arrested by the narrative of how God led the nation
Israel with a “Pillar of Cloud and a Pillar of fire.” These two images represented God’s
presence for the people. To simply state the scenario, God firmly instructed
them that their role was to unreservedly follow Him in fire and the cloud. When
the cloud and fire moved, they all were to “Pack up the babies and grab the old ladies” and follow (sorry, I could not resist the temptation to quote a Neil
Diamond song). When it was stationary, the nation pitched their tents and
hunkered down. Pretty simple, right? I am being serious when I say that my dog
Buckley could track with those commands. Buckley come! Buckley stay! Bam. This
is easy stuff. read more

What is discipleship? What are the foundational ideas you hold concerning discipleship? How do people become more like Jesus in real time.