Last night Bill Nye (“The Science Guy”) and Ken Ham, a leading proponent of young earth creationism, debated. In simplistic terms, it was creation vs. evolution: which one is the most viable explanation for human origins and the age of the universe. The debate has generated many responses, some serious and some full of snark…
Simple Small Groups–A Short Review
While most small group literature is of the, “Hey, this worked for me! So you should do it my way!” variety, Simple Small Groups by Bill Search is refreshingly…well…simple. Instead of providing a new model or method, Search wants to help make whatever model a church is using better (p. 13). In other words, Search’s advice…
Eaten Alive
In the day-to-day trenches of adult life, there is actually no such thing as atheism. There is no such thing as not worshipping. Everybody worships. The only choice we get is what to worship. And the compelling reason for maybe choosing some sort of god or spiritual-type thing to worship — be it JC or…
They Begged Him to Leave
Matthew 8:28-39 is one of the scariest Bible passages, but not in the way you might think. Matthew 8:28-39 [28] When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no…
Losing Lazarus: One Year Later
On this date last year, we found out the news that Lazarus had stopped growing. I can't believe at how radically different our life situation was, just one year ago: I was still in grad school at Southern Seminary, Heather was still pregnant the first time, we lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Now, I am done…
Difference Maker by Needtobreathe
Church of (Human) Glory? Or a Church of the Cross?
Amid our shifting culture—moving away from a culturally Christian, modern culture to a postmodern and neo-pagan culture—how should church respond? I think that we should reclaim some of our Protestant roots and learn from the great Reformer, Martin Luther.[1] In 1518, Martin Luther was still a monk within the Catholic church. His superiors, however, wanted…
Three Gospel Assurances
A new year is here, just over a week old! And every January, the gym is packed! Why is that? Because we crave newness and want to change. Maybe for you, the gym isn’t your thing. But I’m sure that there are probably areas of your life which you want to change. So we try…
From Attractional Events to Attractional Communities
We cannot assume people will come to us. We must go them. We need to do church and mission in the context of everyday life. We can no longer think of church as a meeting on a Sunday morning. We must think of church as a community of people who share life, ordinary life. And…
What’s Your Response to Jesus?: Quick Notes on Matthew Chapter 2
These thoughts probably aren’t original, but they were the ones I had while reading Matthew 2 this morning. Matthew 2 is all about the responses to the news of Jesus’ birth. 1. Herod was threatened by the news of Jesus’ birth Matthew 2:1-3 Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, [2] “Where is He who has…
Raising Lazarus 