I just received an email from Doug with the news that friends of ours who just had a baby (born prematurely but thankfully healthy and able to go home) are now facing a new crisis: she is in the hospital in the ICU receiving treatments for blood clots in her lungs. I shuddered reading the… Continue reading Entitlement
Category: Missional
New Construction
I stumbled upon a great blog entry by Chris Spinks (via Tyler Watson) that contained what I found to be a provocative analogy. He likens churches to planned suburban developments: places where form and structure and character are all prescribed before anyone actually ever dwells there. Too often, as I see it, suburbs and suburban-like… Continue reading New Construction
Prime Time
Driving home yesterday afternoon, I came across the filming frenzy of blocked off streets, semis, and trailers a few blocks from our house. I had seen the little film placards with “CSI” on them, so I wasn’t surprised to see a bunch of fake Las Vegas police cars parked along the street where they were… Continue reading Prime Time
Casualties
In the past week, three men have died within walking distance of our house. They have each died of gunshot wounds. They have died on streets and corners where I regularly walk with my kids. They have died in close proximity to the homes of people we love. They have died as a result of… Continue reading Casualties
Quotation of the Week
“It destroys the people in the big churches, because they are no longer dealing with community; they’re just part of a crowd. In the vaunted small-group movement—which certainly has some good things going for it (probably earlier on, more than now)—people say, ‘Well, we take care of community by having small groups.’ Well, those aren’t… Continue reading Quotation of the Week
Ouch
I have two small children (wow, I can’t say that I have two under two anymore!), and getting out of our apartment is at times a physical feat. We have a back door that exits to where our cars are parked, and this is the door that Doug and I have always used to come… Continue reading Ouch
Preaching: A meal for the whole family
I preached yesterday on the subject of “testimony,” or telling our story. We are beginning a series at our church that looks at our spiritual growth through different aspects of our Christian life: prayer, fasting, racial righteousness, reading the Bible, etc. My sermon was the first of the series and I explored the reasons why… Continue reading Preaching: A meal for the whole family
Sir, give me this water…
I think I can say that, in general, the collection of the offering is rarely the high point for people in weekly Sunday worship gatherings. This is usually the time where people excuse themselves to go to the bathroom, get a drink of water, whisper to their neighbor, get their Bibles out, or read whatever… Continue reading Sir, give me this water…
Needed: perspective
Often I feel like life here is filled with sacrifice and costly choices. I can even focus on this at times and feel like the joy and life embedded in those things is not accessible or believable. It has been a strange season for me here in many ways. Having lived without many comforts and… Continue reading Needed: perspective
Preach for America
Everyone is familiar with “Teach for America”, where individuals are placed in underserved urban public school settings to live and teach for two years. This program attracts a variety of folks but holds an especially strong appeal to new and recent college grads, often from prestigious schools, who sincerely desire to use their gifts and… Continue reading Preach for America