Why We Still Need Movements by Shaun Marshall

May 30, 2015

Sometimes, we disengage from challenging injustice because we have been conditioned to believe that our efforts will not matter; we don’t believe that we can make any real difference. God requires us, his people, to be the movement, humbly and faithfully carrying his mercy, his justice, and his transforming presence in our world.

Missional Evangelism by Otis McMillan

May 28, 2015

what it means to live missionally is to have authentic friendship with people in these networks. If Jesus is truly important to you, and if you have real friendships with people, then Jesus is going to come up sooner or later in the natural course of sharing life.

Why We Rejoice by Andy Stoddard

May 27, 2015

One of the great blessings in life is to celebrate the ways that God works and moves.  Sometimes, in our…

Tend Your Fire: Fanning The Flame Of Zeal by Tammie Grimm

May 25, 2015

“I want to look confident but not come off as aggressive or too assertive – that just won’t do!” How…

I Must Go by Michelle Bauer

May 23, 2015

To be a follower is not a valued characteristic in our culture, is it? If someone asked us if we wanted our children to grow up to be followers or leaders, I’m guessing most of us would say leaders. When we hire or promote someone at work are we looking for leaders or followers? But have you ever heard of a group that offers follower training? It’s even something we say as sort of an insult: “that person is such a follower.”

I wonder if that’s why we have a hard time following Jesus…

Top 5 Reasons Guests Become Part Of Your Church Family by Kevin Watson

May 20, 2015

At one level, Melissa and I are the ideal first-time guests. And yet, we have been surprised at how difficult it has been to find deep and nurturing community in the local church. We have often been discouraged, because our initial strategy for finding new community when we have moved has been to try to quickly plug in to a new church. There have been a few times when the church did not seem to need or want new people. Of course, they would say that they did, but their actions communicated more loudly that the community was content the way it was and did not want to be disrupted.

I’m Not A Worthless Sinner by Tom Fuerst

May 18, 2015

Worm Theology is probably a good moniker for such belief. It imprisons humanity in this notion that our sin has made us worthless. It fetters us to the falsity that the evil within us has so completely broken us that we literally have no value.

It sounds pious. It sounds like a good understanding of the holy character of God lies behind it. It sounds like something Christians should say. But is this at all what the scriptures teach? Or is this just a leftover from the shame-laden sermons we heard in our youth?

Solutionists: Problemists by Talbot Davis

May 16, 2015

Anyway, several months ago I was in one of these meetings – probably 40 people there – admiring the raw spirituality of the environment, when during the sharing time a man says, “We don’t have a drinking PROBLEM. We have a drinking SOLUTION. We’ve got all kinds of problems – marriage, parents, self-esteem, and money – and what we all have in common in this room is that our SOLUTION to those problems was to drink them away!” And I thought, “I may have just heard the single most brilliant insight into anything, anywhere in my life.”

Know Thyself by Andy Stoddard

May 14, 2015

One of the best things in the world that we can do is know ourselves.  Know our strengths.  Know our…

A Foretaste Of The Heavenly Banquet by Ken Loyer

May 13, 2015

The idea of the future has a mysterious quality to it because it is always beyond us, in one sense not yet fulfilled. As you look ahead, what do you anticipate about the future? What concerns or fears do you have? Do you think that in the midst of the inevitable uncertainty regarding various aspects of our future, there is still reason to be hopeful about what lies ahead for you, for your family, or for others? Why or why not?