A Hero of Faith We all need heroes of faith; people who’ve had more than their share of challenges in life but whose faith never (or seldom) waivers. I believe I’m watching one hero of faith “in development” right now as my sister faces challenges brought on by her husband’s stroke. Charlie suffered a devastating [...]
Life .. New Life .. Abundant Life Last night I was privileged to participate in the baptisms of three generations of one family; father (grandfather), son-in-law, and two adult grandchildren. I’ve known and loved the father (and mother) for years. We’ve become friends and enjoyed many activities together. They’ve passed on their values and faith [...]
The Present Future–The Rise of Apostolic Leadership If you haven’t read the entry before this one (written earlier today), please do so. By “Apostolic” leadership, Reggie means–the kind of leadership that will be functional and effective in our “present future” just as it was in the 1st century. The leadership of Jesus that he used [...]
The Present Future–Moving From Planning To Preparation Well, I got caught up in other “ministry” last week and didn’t continue this blog, so I’ll recap last week’s session and then do another entry for tonight. Reggie contends that if we continue to “plan for the future” as we always have we’ll keep getting the same [...]
THE PRESENT FUTURE–THE RETURN TO SPIRITUAL FORMATION Reggie McNeal contends that true spiritual formation is centered in “knowing Jesus” and not “knowing about Jesus” through the study of Scripture. Jesus spent three or so years with twelve selected followers (apostles) in an effort to train them to continue His work of reconciling the world back [...]
THE PRESENT FUTURE–THE RETURN TO SPIRITUAL FORMATION I’ve just read again from Reggie’s book, The Present Future, the chapter entitled, The Return to Spiritual Formation. For me, it is one of the most important chapters about spiritual formation and church education, that I’ve read. It certainly gives opportunity for a person in my position (adult [...]
The Present Future Our last class period focused on reality #4 entitled “The Return to Spiritual Formation.” Philippians 3:10 states “I want to know Christ…” McNeal, in his book says that despite that example from Paul, we have “turned our churches into groups of people who are studying God as though they were taking a [...]
Wow! An amazing Sunday morning. The culmination of lots prayer, hard work, and decisions that will frame the future of this community of people for years to come. Approximately $1,000,000 committed over the next three years to ministry and updating ministry areas of our building. Seeing the amount committed was in itself an amazing thing [...]
Present Future Tonight we will discuss last weeks lesson “The Shift from Church Growth to Kingdom Growth.” Many of us grew up being taught that the “church” and the “kingdom” were the same. Seemingly, we read right over verses such as Luke 17:21 which stated “the kingdom is within you.” We even were taught to [...]
Present Future In tonight’s video (Nov 11), Reggie discusses the shift from “church growth” to “kingdom growth.” He says that the wrong question for church leaders to be asking is, “How do we grow this church?” The harder question that we should be asking is, “How do we transform our community?” He asserts that it [...]
A Hero of Faith