Focus: The One Thing I Do
Focus is the commitment to abandon everything that falls outside of the simple ministry process. Focus most often means saying “no.” Focus requires saying “yes” to the best and “no” to everything else. While movement is the most difficult simple church element to understand, focus is also the most difficult element to implement. It takes […]
The Gospel Impacts Everything, but not Everything Is the Gospel
Back in the day when the church I served in Miami still offered “The South Florida Easter Pageant,” an elaborate presentation depicting the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, a couple approached me with concerns about “the performance.” They wanted to know if “the show was going to be different.” Not sure what they meant, […]
The Power of New
I still drive the ’95 Nissan pickup truck my father and I purchased together my freshman year of college. The odometer reads 77,000 miles, but the odometer has been broken for well over a decade. The seats look pretty worn. There are scratches all over the side from my youth ministry days, hauling stages and […]
Our Biggest Regrets
Tom Gilovich and Vicki Medvec, two Cornell social psychologists, have studied and researched how we deal with regret. They place regret into two broad categories: actions (things we wish we had not done or said) and inactions (things we wish we had done). In their research they discovered that in the short term, we tend […]
Alignment: It’s Not Just for Cars
Alignment is the arrangement of all ministries and staff around the same simple process. Alignment to the process means that all ministry departments submit and attach themselves to the same overarching process. Alignment ensures the entire church body is moving in the same direction, and in the same manner. When a church is fully aligned, […]
The Importance of Movement
Movement is the sequential steps in the process that cause people to move to greater areas of commitment. Movement is about flow. It is about assimilation. Movement is what causes a person to go to the next step. Movement is the most difficult simple church element to understand; therefore, an illustration is in order. In […]
Ruin or Restoration
We resemble the God/god we revere, and this will either be for our ruin or our restoration. If the people we serve are not deeply impressed with Christ, the gods they serve will leave them ruined. They will live lifeless, worthless lives lacking the transformation only God can bring. Augustine recounted a chilling story about […]
The Law as a Mirror
I am the proud dad of two little girls, Eden (5) and Evie (3). When Kaye and I were first married, if you would have asked me if I wanted sons or daughters, I would have responded sons. I imagined rough wrestling matches, basketball games, and guy talks. Instead, I play Barbies, enjoy tender pillow […]
Will You Be Like Moses or Joshua?
Moses and Joshua enjoyed a very special relationship. Moses poured his life into Joshua, entrusted Joshua with responsibility, and prepared him for service. Joshua is first mentioned in the Scripture when Moses chose him to lead the Israelite army in battle against the Amalekites (Ex. 17:8-16). From that moment forward, we observe Moses intentionally developing […]
Time Stewardship
A few evenings ago, I walked into Eden’s room to discover her piggybank was emptied and a dollar bill was lying on the floor in several pieces. I have been slowly teaching Eden about money and the stewardship of it, so obviously I still have some work to do. While we all know that ripping […]