A few years back, we had a 3-day meeting where about 40 of us gathered to listen to God. They were strong leaders from across the nation. Most of the time, the type-A personalities, seated on the inner row of 2 concentric circles of chairs, dominated vocally. The quieter ones sat on the back row.… Read More
One day, Jesus' disciples were squabbling over which of them was the greatest. In fact, two brothers, James and John, had persuaded their mother to ask Jesus if they could have privileged positions in his Kingdom. The other disciples were indignant; they wanted those positions for themselves! Matthew 20:25-28 continues: But Jesus called them to Himself and… Read More
A.W. Tozer wrote this: "The God of the modern evangelical rarely astonishes anybody. He manages to stay pretty much within the constitution. Never breaks our bylaws. He's a very well-behaved God and very denominational and very much one of us, and we ask Him to help us when we're in trouble and look to Him… Read More
The leaders God is looking for are very different to the leadership the world is looking for. God is looking for those who walk with a limp; those who, like Jacob, have surrendered unconditionally to God. He's looking for those who have been through his wilderness training school, educated in the college of hard knocks and… Read More
God's ways are not our ways. People like their leaders to be like King Saul–head and shoulders above everyone else. They like them to be charismatic, outgoing, well qualified. To have university degrees, communicate persuasively, lead convincingly. Leaders are to be out front, envisioning and inspiring, with larger-than-life personalities. In the church at large, we… Read More
People often say that simple/organic/house churches do not believe in leadership. Is that true? No! It's just that the leadership we do believe in looks completely different. This is what is usually thought of as leadership: Jesus said, "It shall not be this way among you!" (Matthew 20:26) We'll explore it in the next… Read More
Mega churches are starting missional communities in many areas around the country. (Exponential, the largest conference available for church planters, has several organic church people speaking at the main sessions this year –I've even been asked to take a workshop!) But I haven't yet heard that many stories from slightly smaller churches. However, here's a great story… Read More
A number of people have made the comment that community and mission are both facets of the same gem. Both are an integral part of the heart of the Godhead. Tony P. made some excellent comments on the mission/community question: they are definitely worth repeating in the main part of the blog so more people… Read More
Last October we started another simple/organic church. Initially it was composed of a few family members and a young Indian couple, both from a Hindu background. The husband had already given his life to the Lord, and was being profoundly helped by working at our company. (Our company hires the "best person for the job,"… Read More
Most of the last few blog posts (and the insightful comments everyone has posted) have been about community and mission. Here's a question: we talk about Jesus creating community. Is family the same thing? There is extensive Biblical support for the notion of church as family. (John 1:12; Ephesians 1:5; 2:19; Galatians 6:10). Community is… Read More