the Essays & Reflections
Tag: Church
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4 Reasons Suburban churches should stay out of the city
I’ve heard that several prominent suburban churches in Minnesota announcing plans to open locations downtown. As an urban dweller – who is also a missionary and student of the church – I thought I’d share some major reservations about this development. At the core this is an issue of culture and world view. A mentor
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Church as a Base Camp
Church is not the goal. To journey and be transformed is. As a pastor my heart beats so that others may have their own intimate and exciting experiences with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. For the church to facilitate this, we need to see ourselves as the base camp of life. Where we prepare others
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Faithfulness is Everything…ness
In a visual world it is second nature to count, collect, and compare what is seen. It seems natural to desire more and from a young age we do. We believe that 72 crayons are better than 12, even if we only use 6. We compare important things too: ministries, callings, follower, and bank accounts. Yet
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Our Calling should Inspire Us and not Define Us
There’s excitement as people discover, discern, and accept their life calling. Yet if life were a single day this would equate to little more than putting on a single sock. You have not yet reached the door, and have the majority of the real work ahead. With this perspective we can accept our calling as a critical step
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Honest Realizations: Being Meaningful to Someone
The ministry/missionary world is immersed and exists within a single verse from the Apostle Paul – 1 Corinthians 9:20-23 (full passage below). It’s the passage where he talks about becoming all things to all people so that he might save some of them. This weekend that passage was weighing on me as I dreamt of
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Becoming a Bi-Vocational Pastor
The natural question one is asked as they graduate from Seminary is: What is next for you/Where is God calling you? With only 82 days between me and my Masters of Divinity this question is looming in the bushes (or shrubbery if you will). For my wife and I we will be bi-vocational pastors. Choosing Bi-Vocational This does
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What makes something Great?
Yesterday morning I found myself thinking about greatness and faith. I have come across individuals who hold that something done with Christ is automatically great. It isn’t that I would discount the importance of living a life with the Spirit, and honoring God with our times and talents. It is that I have issue with
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Sermon: Living Beyond Yourself
I just finished up 9 straight days of class, 8+ hours a day. While it was very intense and time consuming it was a great experience, though one i don’t think I will need to repeat. I took my first Old Testament course (OT501) on Genesis – Ruth, and then immediately rolled into my Preaching
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Thoughts on Post-Modernism from Erwin McManus
Found a talk given by Erwin McManus through iTunes. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Erwin leads Mosaic church out in LA. ‘The reason I can take you through this time is not because I’ve studied this theoretically, not because I’ve read a thousand books, or not because I’ve written one. But because I