Homosexuality: Have I Changed My View?

Jesus stood against extortion, yet didn’t mention extortion when he encountered extortionists (Matt 9:9-13; Luke 19:1-10).
Jesus stood against violence, but didn’t mention violence when he befriended a leader of a violent superpower (Matt 8:5-13).
Jesus opposed adultery and even took a hyper-conservative view on sexual ethics (Matt 5:27-32), but he didn’t front sexual sin when he encountered people engaged in it (Luke 7:36-50).
Jesus didn’t often lead with law; instead, he led with love and he loved people into holiness.

We’ve Seen Megachurch. But How About Micro-Church?

St. Lydia’s, the five-year-old church where I am the founding pastor, is a Dinner Church. This means that we gather each week to share what we call a “sacred meal:” a worship service that takes place around the table. This meal is patterned after those shared by Christians in the first few centuries of the church, which evolved into our current day communion celebrations with participants sharing the bread and the cup.

How My Son with Autism Transformed my Business

As the dream grew, I began to believe we could hire not just a few people with disabilities but lots of them. We began to believe we could do something that had never been done: one-third of the workforce, 200 people with disabilities working side-by-side, performing the same jobs, held to the same standards, earning the same pay. And if we were successful, we promised, we would open our doors to the world and give away everything we’ve learned.

I Will Not Offer the Lord What Costs Me Nothing

How much more should cost us to preach the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ?
There are three costs you should pay to honor the Lord in your preaching

• The Cost of Personal Consecration
• The Cost of Diligent Preparation
• The Cost of Believing Prayer

Why Your Teaching Isn’t As Effective As You Think

The question you need to ask yourself is, who is your audience? Who has God given you influence over? And what kind of teaching/encouraging/disequilibrating does that particular audience require? Not the people “out there.” Not those other Christians who wouldn’t read your blog or attend your church in a million years. But the actual people in your actual audience. For those people, how can you teach in a way that transforms their lives, and the world around them?

E-Mail: The Relationship Blowtorch

Have you ever heard the story about the serious disagreement that was brought to a happy ending when one person wrote a long, powerful e-mail to the other person? Neither have we. And that ought to give us pause.
E-mail and letters (and for that matter, Facebook posts, blog comments, and texts) are great for starting fights and deepening disagreements but far worse at resolving conflicts.