Burnout—the state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion—is a hot topic these days (sorry for the fire-related puns). There's even been a whole book written on how Millennials (my generation) has become the "burnout generation." Writers often blame a wide-variety of things that cause burnout. Explanations have ranged from the pressures placed on kids from…
The Two Hands of God’s Mission
I took one punch to the face and said, "I'm done!" I threw the boxing gloves down and walked out of the locker room. During high school, one of my football teammates brought boxing gloves into the locker room and so, after practice, when the coaches weren't around, impromptu boxing matches would start up. This…
Nominal Versus Genuine Believers
CHINOs are unfashionable. I'm not talking about the pants, but CHristians In Name Only (CHINO). Maybe you've heard the same concept under the definition of "nominal Christian." But what is a "nominal Christian" versus a genuine believer? A nominal Christian (Christian in name only) is someone who uses God as a means to some other end. Nominal Christians are…
Upgrade Your Spiritual Life with This ONE Habit
If you want to seriously upgrade your spiritual life this year, do this one habit: go to church. It's that simple. Going to church matters. The book of Acts shows that the early church met together regularly, being devoted to corporate worship (Acts 2:42-47). The book of Hebrews, which many Christians believe to be a…
Pastor as Teenager
Pastors are an angsty bunch, just like teenagers. I would know because I am one and I spend time with other pastors! Teenagers can often feel a deep anxiety about their lives. What am I doing with my life? Does anyone care? Etc. Etc. And, from what I've experienced myself and what I've observed in…
2022 in Books
Rediscover Church by Jonathan Leeman and Collin Hanson (January) How to Reach the West Again by Tim Keller (January) The Family Firm by Emily Oster (January) Spirit and Sacrament by Andrew Wilson (January) Becoming Whole by Brian Fikkert and Kelly Kapic (January) Jesus and John Wayne by Kristen Kobes Du Mez (January) Personal Kanban by…
What moves the Bible’s story forward?
The Bible is a big book, encompassing almost four thousand years of human history and containing various genres of literature from poetry to prophecy. Even though the Bible seemingly contains so many disparate parts, the church has historically discerned a general movement, or plot structure, to Scripture's story. In the recent history of the American…
Precedented Times
We need to get over ourselves in many different ways. One of the biggest afflictions facing the all the generations alive today is narcissism. We have genuinely come to believe that our tine and place is unique, different, and "unprecedented." We have faced a pandemic...unprecedented (but one just happened in 1918)! We have abundant wealth…
A Deep Life System
We all want to live "deeply," a life of meaning and significance. But how does that happen? It does not happen haphazardly. One of the benefits of modern life is that we can often be given the freedom to think deeply about our lives and can control much more of our lives than ever before.…
Clearing the Decks Doesn’t Work (Or Why the “Two Minute” Rule is a Trap)
A common productivity trope is the "two minute rule": if a task will take two minutes or less, do it right now. The two minute rule can feed into a mindset where we need "clear the decks" (get small things done and out of the way) so we can then focus on the more important…
Raising Lazarus 