So, you spend all your time obsessing with others’ expectations of you. The simple truth is this: a life filled with others’ expectations is a life empty of God’s realities. The apostle Paul said it first in Galatians 1:10, “Am I now seeking human approval, or God’s approval? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing
Most churches have interns at one time or another. This can either be a great experience, or a terrible one (though it will probably be somewhere in between). Done well, an internship program can give you greater levels of effectiveness, train up next-gen leaders, and expand the possibilities for great future ministry in the church. Done poorly, it can eat
Here’s the deal with the whole alarm clock thing – the wake part is God’s work, and God did a pretty good job of it in releasing all that God energy into the world 2000 years ago. But now it’s the get up part. The question is, are we going to sleep right through?
I’ll bet there are roads you could drive blindfolded if you really needed to. Maybe it’s the road from your house to the entrance of your subdivision, or the route you take to work, or the circuitous path you carve in your daily routine – stop, start, turn, pause, start again. The rhythm of acceleration, brake, the swing of the
We are examining this Teacher-Student-Teacher relationship between Paul, who invested in Timothy and expected Timothy to invest in others as a model for not only how, but what to pass “downline.” Last week we opened in chapter 1 of 1 Timothy where Paul, before teaching even the first “what,” sets the context – Grace. Everything that will be taught, should
When people do get a taste of healthy Christian community, it is often like water in a dry land. It is quickly absorbed and serves to make one more aware of a deep longing to be known, seen, heard, cared for, and most of all loved. Many Christian are hungry for this kind of connection with others.
During this Lenten season there was a lot of noise surrounding four movies: Noah, Heaven is for Real, God’s Not Dead, and The Son of God. When Easter is nearing it is commonplace for a proliferation of “evidence” to come forth that will now put this Jesus-rising-from-the-dead business to rest. Maybe these movies’ release dates were strategic so that they
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. That’s Sir Isaac Newton’s third law of motion. It explains how birds fly and fish swim. Jump on a trampoline and you’ll experience the third law firsthand: You force the bounce mat down, and it springs back to throw you up into the air. Newton’s law applies to actions and
What are we called to do and say in our world? Sometimes we need to turn our jerseys inside out. Play the game but don’t play it unaware. Be the voice of change today in your system, company, church, and world.
It is Easter. Alleluia! Or, more properly, it is Easter-tide. Palm fronds saved from Sunday’s service two weeks ago are woven homemade crosses drying on the kitchen windowsill or (in my case, on the pile of mail stacked on my desk). The signs and symbols of Lent and Holy Week – along with the bins of empty plastic eggs –
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/15252263/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3433802/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Rev. Dr. Jo Anne Lyon is Ambassador and General Superintendent Emerita of the Wesleyan Church. Email her: LyonJA@wesleyan.com World Hope International: www.Worldhope.org Immigrant Connection: https://www.icwelcome.org/ To learn more about World Methodist Evangelism, visit: www.WorldMethodist.org Find us on Social Media: Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/worldmethodistevangelism Twitter here https://twitter.com/worldmethodist Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/worldmethodist/ Check
We need to practice opening the door for the Spirit of God to enter our striving for answers in contradictory times.
In the tug of prolonged strain, physicians, like their patients, are vulnerable. Some corners of the United States remain relatively quiet and unaffected by outbreaks of the coronavirus, Covid-19. In these areas, extra sanitizer, virtual appointments, and doctors’ office face coverings are the cue that something is happening elsewhere. But in other regions, despite the summer months, health care systems
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14970350/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3433802/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] To learn more about Embrace, order your copy, or schedule an Embrace training at: www.WorldMethodist.org Find us on Social Media: Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/worldmethodistevangelism Twitter here https://twitter.com/worldmethodist Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/worldmethodist/ Check out this episode!
For 400 years, through slavery, lynching, Jim Crow laws, the Civil Rights movement, and institutionalized racism, people of color (especially within the Black community) have been fighting and crying out for justice and equality. Justice is sought because they have been oppressed and abused for centuries; equality, because that is the underlying cause of their unjust treatment: they have been
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14917307/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3433802/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Rev. Kaloma Smith is the pastor of University AMEZ Church in Palo Alto, California. You can reach Rev. Kaloma at: pastor@universityamez.com https://www.facebook.com/kaloma.smith https://www.instagram.com/kalomaasmith Check out this episode!
God’s compassion needs to be experienced and expressed: experienced by us as his people and expressed to the people around us.
In my previous article, I talked about some ways the newly distanced church can think about worship, discipleship, and outreach in the still-developing COVID-19 crisis. Ministry in the Newly Distanced Church Part 1. In this article, I offer some practical steps to consider for discipleship and outreach as churches reopen and move into a new way of doing church. Don’t
[iframe style=”border:none” src=”//html5-player.libsyn.com/embed/episode/id/14713604/height/100/width//thumbnail/no/render-playlist/no/theme/custom/tdest_id/3433802/custom-color/87A93A” height=”100″ width=”100%” scrolling=”no” allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen] Rev. Prof. David Wilkinson is the Principal of St. John’s College, Durham University in the UK. St. John’s College, Durham https://www.dur.ac.uk/st-johns.college/ Equipping Christian Leaders in an Age of Science http://community.dur.ac.uk/christianleadership.science/ BioLogos https://biologos.org Check out this episode!
Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5
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