If you’ve been watching The Chosen, you’ve seen a brilliant (fictitious) example of Jesus de-escalating conflict in Season 3 Episode 8. Spoiler Alert: If you haven’t seen it, go watch it, then come back and read this post. [Aside: If you’re new to The Chosen, it’s a multi-season show about the life of Christ through […]
I’m sure you’ve noticed. There’s an increasingly larger and larger gap these days between the world and the church. The world is pushing a narrative that, even a few decades ago, even one decade ago, would’ve been viewed as complete insanity. Well, what is it? you ask. Fair question, which I’m not answering in this […]
Sometimes we feel pressured, or drawn, to share our story. Our stories often contain hard and vulnerable things. The thought of sharing our story can be really scary. It can be hard to discern if we’re being drawn to share by the Holy Spirit or pressured by people. And it can be really confusing if […]
I’ve seen a lot of questions recently from people, particularly men, trying to sort out balancing ministry and family. Questions like: These questions come from a false dichotomy – having to choose either family or ministry. But that’s a false choice. Family is ministry. Every Relationship Is a Ministry. The hardest choices are choosing between […]
In this broken world, bad stuff often happens to us in isolation, just us and the perpetrator. No one knows our secret. We were designed by God to heal in community. Not a big, giant community. I’m not talking about telling our hurtful secrets to the whole world or publicly in front of our whole […]
In this fallen world, the human condition is a paradox of two contradictory, deep primal pulls. One is longing to be fully known, and to know others, in relationally intimacy. The other is being terrified of it. We are terrified of the intimacy we so deeply long for. That terror usually is there because our […]
I’ve been asked recently how to find a healthy church. What does that even look like? Are there any? Does such a thing even exist? Well, I’m happy to report, having found one ourselves and having seen many, yes, they do exist. I’ve also been in unhealthy churches for years, and there are many of […]
People come to church in silent pain, isolated and hurting. “Look at all these happy people getting close to God. I’m the only one who’s faking it.” Nothing could be further from the truth. But we drive people to internalize and hide their pain because, by and large, the church doesn’t know how to help […]
This could quite possibly be the most important post I’ve ever written. It could save a life. It’s based on Sarah Robinson’s excellent post here (not an affiliate link). Sarah is a personal friend in our writer’s mentoring group, and a very strong believer. Please read her article, share it, and then come back and read […]
Do we present Jesus and the “house” of Christianity to people as realtors, or as residents? (DISCLAIMER: I am in no way dissing realtors. I know a lot of great realtors who negotiate win-wins for both the buyers and the sellers. Most realtors are very ethical, and I am in no way disparaging them or […]