Part 2 of Super Spirituality: Are You a Faith Snob? continues … You can read Part 1 here. What Should We Do? As we better understand the impact of spiritual snobbery in our lives, how can we avoid being guilty of it? As with all elements of the Christian walk, we should cautiously approach any prescriptive path toward holiness. In fact, this often leads to legalism, which sits at the core of many people’s spiritual arrogance. But there are a few helpful action points toward refuting faith snobbery. And as my … [Read more...]
All about the Benjamins
Editor’s Note: The following is excerpted from The Tough Sayings of Jesus II by Michael Kelley. The excerpted portion is part of the discussion of the parable of the shrewd manager in Luke 16:1-13. We might wonder why Jesus cares so much about our money. It seems like it’s all about the Benjamins (or Jacksons, as the case may be), and our relationship to them. Apparently Jesus is incredibly concerned about money, and as this passage concludes you see why: “No household slave can be the slave of two masters, since … [Read more...]
Loving Leaders Who Let Us Down
It wasn’t until the arrival of my church’s second youth pastor that I discovered the reason our first had left. I suppose there’s wisdom in hiding potentially jarring realities from high school students, but when I heard my brother whisper, “Let’s hope this one’s not gay” under his breath, it struck me like a bus. During college, I actually witnessed someone get hit by a bus. As the student coasted along on his bike, his face was blank and safe—by no means expecting the ensuing jolt and … [Read more...]
Searching for Balance
The idea of finding balance seems really important to me these days. I certainly haven’t achieved it yet. For that matter, I’m not sure I will ever find complete balance in my life. However, I’m working hard at it and really making steps toward improvement. Balance seems to be something we all strive for but have a difficult time achieving. Below are my notes from a conference session in which I spoke about this difficult topic. As you can see, I tried to come at this from both a practical and spiritual angle. I … [Read more...]
Discipleship: The New Evangelism
The Roman Road. F.A.I.T.H. Four Spiritual Laws. The bridge illustration. These are all names of good, useful tools for evangelism, and I’m sure you can add to the list. The goal of each is to introduce someone to a relationship with Jesus Christ in a simple, straight-forward way. And they have worked well. Really, really, well. The question is not whether or not they have worked, but are these the best models for evangelism in today’s culture? It’s worth asking the question because things, they are a-changin’. … [Read more...]
Breaking Through
DayBreak—an after school program and Saturday outreach ministry—began as all good things begin. A few people saw a need that God had been preparing their hearts to meet. One of those few was Julia Harper. In 2000, a group of people held a carnival as an outreach to the children of their community. Julia Harper was among those who had been praying and looking for a way they could minister to kids in one of the neediest communities in the city. “God was exposing me to the people He was grooming me to serve—He … [Read more...]
A Not So Fine Dining Experience
On a recent trip to North Carolina I had some free time for an afternoon of climbing and hiking. Naturally, I was famished afterwards and stopped at a homey restaurant for lunch. Sadly, what seemed to promise a great, home-cooked meal was a disappointment with things like gravy out of a can and instant potatoes. I thought for sure I’d be getting the real thing! I had just wrapped another Threads event, and gospel parallels were easy to come by at that moment. I couldn’t help but think about our churches today and how … [Read more...]
BeachReach: BeachReach 2010
Back in May, Matt Johnson sent us a great video of his experience at BeachReach, giving us permission to put it on our site. I’ve been waiting for a while to post it to this blog, but today is the perfect day because I now have the 2010 BeachReach dates to share with you. You can choose between March 6–12, 13–19, and 20–26. Go ahead and clear your calendars to join us during one of those weeks. Registration will open soon (sign-up for the newsletter to be the first to find out when registration opens). … [Read more...]
Tips for Simplifying the Daily Grind
Most people spend way too much time on mundane tasks. With a little forethought, you can expedite the routine and use leftover energy for things that really matter. If we could, we’d all probably hire a personal assistant to help with day-to-day hassles, whether it’s yet another trip to Target for cereal and cleaning supplies or tackling that seemingly bottomless basket of laundry. But since most of us don’t have a Hollywood salary, we’re stuck taking care of life’s must-dos ourselves. With a few quick … [Read more...]
Four Keys to Keeping Young Adults
People leave the church. The dropout issue is well known and discussed widely. Perhaps less known is the high rate of young adult dropouts. Our research reveals that over two-thirds of 18-22 year-olds leave the church. In the short, four-year transitional window of teen to adult, the church loses the majority of its students. Most of the dropouts do not leave their families during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave their social networks during this time. Most of the dropouts do not leave the educational system during this … [Read more...]
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