A Thanksgiving Story Worth Remembering
A reflection on Thanksgiving history and how gratitude leads us back to God’s steady provision and grace.
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Sometimes Our Best Laid Plans Don’t Turn Out As Initially Planned
I was so excited! It was late October during my days as a youth pastor. All in one weekend, we had a Leadership Retreat, a Fund-Raiser Lunch and our annual Youth Harvest Party. Which also included a trip to the local Hay-Maze!
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Bible | Leadership | NT
Francis Chan Gives a Sobering Warning to Young Pastors
The other day I watched a sobering video clip. Author and speaker Francis Chan addressed young pastors and their pursuit to improve their craft. He noted the trend that young pastors often have a strong ability to teach, but their lives are not always displaying what they’re teaching.
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How Hobbies and Recreation Can Help You Invest In Your Deepest Relationships
Satan wants to destroy your deepest relationships; with your family and with Jesus. He’s a deceiver, convincing us that working is more important so that we’ll stay away from the people closest to us, and keep our focus away from God. Don’t be tricked; stop working and rest!
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Bible | Leadership | OT
How To Fight Injustice and Make a Difference
Do you ever see or hear something that makes you angry and feel like fighting? Not so much to fight for the sake of fighting; I’m talking about something deeper. I’m talking about fighting for someone who has been cheated in life or put down by a greater authority.
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Are You Bold Enough To Pray Around Your Flag Pole?
It was 7:00 AM local time. A “global day of student prayer” was being held. I had the privilege of gathering with a group of students around their school flag pole.
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The Benefit of Having a Staff Meeting Full of Friends
Once, while I was tucking my son into bed, I decided to pause and spend some time talking with him. He was 3 years old at the time. I started with a typical question, that always provided interesting content.
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How To Increase Impact By Matching Music with the Message
There’s a deeper calling. Our music leaders are being led by the Spirit. They aren’t simply picking song that fit. They’re being led to bring songs that will carry the mind of the congregation toward the Biblical principle of that particular gathering.
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Bible | Discipleship | Leadership | NT
Why “I Can Do What I Want When I Want” Doesn’t Work
As Believers, we can get caught up in what we ought to do, or ought not to do. We try to justify our feelings about actions we should be or shouldn’t be taking. All of this is in order to achieve a type of holiness through self-imposed regulations.
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Adventure | Discipleship | Gospels | Leadership | Outreach
What If You Didn’t Get Back On the Bus? Exploring the Desire to Stay On Mission
Returning home from a short-term mission or spiritual retreat can be difficult. On the one hand, you have this odd desire to keep travelling, embracing a nomadic servant leadership lifestyle as a permanent gig. On the other hand, you crave the comforts and security that come with getting home to family and friends.
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The Benefits of Experiencing Culture Shock
When I was a youth pastor, I led a group of students from conservative, semi-rural Alaska on a missions trip to Seattle, WA and Vancouver, BC. The first part in Seatlle was fairly familiar for them, but Vancouver was a different story. Considering their home environment, our students received the full brunt of religious, ethnic, and socioeconomic culture shock!
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Church | Discipleship | Leadership | Outreach
The Sobering Outcome for the Church that Loses an Evangelistic Focus
As I toured the facilities with the pastor, I started to realize how grim the situation was. It would take way more than a summer work team to turn this church around. It was a large property that resembled a ghost town of sorts; like time stopped a decade prior, when a large group of families just walked away all at once. The property was left to take care of itself. However, the facility wasn’t the problem.
