Articles
Practice Hospitality: Becoming a Person of Welcome
Why We Must Practice Hospitality in a Broken World Family and friends welcomed them to a foreign land. My parents were the first of their families to move across the world to gain access to opportunity, education, and a different life. The United States was a...
Ask Better Questions to Expand Your World
Why You Must Ask Better Questions in Life EXPANDING—OR SHRINKING—YOUR WORLD The dimensions of your life expand or shrink in proportion to the questions you ask. I remember the first time I asked two significant questions. Little did I realize how those two questions...
Pastor as Gardener: A Biblical Model for Ministry
Pastor as Gardener in Biblical Ministry The story of the early church—Mary, Thomas, Peter, and so many more—is a story of lives transformed through Jesus and then becoming more like Jesus in thought, word, and deed. The early Christians, as they lived in resurrection...
Faith Behind the Mask: Finding God in Hidden Pain
Faith Behind the Mask in the Modern Church Have you ever walked into church and wondered if anyone could tell you were wearing a mask? As you leaned in for that infamous church hug (the one that gives the appearance of closeness while ensuring that the two bodies...
God Is Near: Experiencing His Presence in Everyday Life
God Is Near and Invites Relationship God’s greatest desire is that we would reach out to him and connect with him. The Bible calls God our Father, who loves us with a love greater than our minds can comprehend. God wants to connect with you. He’s not hiding. He’s not...
Citizens of Heaven: Living with a Kingdom Perspective
Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven. Philippians 1:27 Citizens of Heaven See Beyond Earthly Circumstances Paul knew a thing or two about citizenship. His status as a Roman citizen served him well on several occasions, and many of his readers would likely...
Being Over Doing Missions: A Better Model for Global Ministry
Being Over Doing Missions Starts with a Mindset Shift For so long, the prevailing mindset in missions has been “from the West to the rest,” essentially a one-way model of us going to them. But just as no part of the human body ever only receives and never gives...
Accountability Healing: Finding Freedom Through Confession and Community
A few months ago, I was struggling with the way I viewed food and exercise. Unfortunately, I was making it more than a healthy lifestyle, and it was becoming something that all my life and thoughts revolved around. Slowly but surely, what started out as a passion...
Family Forgiveness: Finding Healing in the Family You Didn’t Choose
Azor the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Akim, Akim the father of Elihud, Elihud the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, Matthan the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, and Mary was the mother of Jesus who is called...
The Great Commission Mission: Why Every Person Deserves One Chance
Over the past three decades, our missionary path for my wife Jennifer and I has taken us to jungles, deserts, megacities, and mountain villages. We’ve preached under open skies, in house churches, and in stadiums. We’ve seen God heal the sick, protect His people, and...
Motherhood in a Culture of Judgment
If there’s a universal motherhood experience, it’s the judgment of those who think they know better. But while my generation of mothers certainly faced the occasional sideways glance or stinging remark, we didn’t carry the weight of the watching world the way moms do...
The Digital Mission Frontier
It is worth restating that participation in the mission of God is not something that can be outsourced to artificial intelligence any more than it should be outsourced to the professional clergy class of the church. Instead, it is inherently the call and privilege of...
Finding Real Encouragement in a Discouraging World
The enemy has a strategy, and it’s devastatingly simple. Discouragement: The Enemy’s First Strike If he can get us discouraged, he can get us disappointed. If he can get us disappointed, he can get us distracted. If he can get us distracted, he can get us divided. If...
Leadership Lessons from Overcoming the Odds
After my ninth birthday and with my mother’s permission, my dad began to be present more consistently in my life again. How Football Shaped Early Leadership A sports enthusiast, my dad saw it as his responsibility to introduce me to football. Those are still some of...
Leaders Must Remember They Are Beloved
Do you remember your first leadership title? Maybe it was pastor, director, manager, or supervisor. You likely felt the affirmation and responsibility as someone entrusted to lead others. It’s a significant moment, but it can also be a subtle trap. Our title begins to...
Hospitality That Reflects Christ
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. —Hebrews 10:24–25 Every day they...
Restoring Joy in Work and Ministry
How to Restore the Whistle in Your Work Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go… Remember the seven dwarfs singing as they headed off to work? Does that describe your mornings? Work Was Never the Curse Unfortunately, sometimes we come to view our work—and ministry—as a...
Addiction, Brokenness, and the Hope of Christ
When I was seventeen, someone introduced me to a drug called crystal meth. Since the age of eleven, my story had been a drug-induced downward spiral, but this was a new low. How Addiction Took Control Crystal meth is an upper. You can snort it, shoot it up with a...
Bible Engagement in an Age of Distraction
Short Attention Spans and Bible Engagement: A Growing Challenge—and an Innovative Aid Every pastor knows the congregation that listens with appreciation during the sermon, then taps on their screen or slips away from Scripture as soon as they return home. It's not...
Learning to Slow with God
Having worked in full time ministry for five years, as well as working with pastors and ministry leaders in therapy, A. C. knows the unique challenges of slowing down in ministry. In her book, she shares about her personal and professional journey in slowing down,...
