A Holy Cause and Effect

Cause and Effect — [kawz-uh nd-i-fekt] adjective — noting a relationship between actions or events such that one or more are the result of the other or others. Kids learn about cause and effect every year in elementary school. The learning is deemed critical because understanding cause and effect helps children make wise choices. For example, kids […]

Main Event Church and Theological Schizophrenia

Several years ago a few of my friends and I decided to post a job on churchstaffing.com. We were bored watching football on a Sunday afternoon, so each of us chipped in some money and created a job that did not really exist. Now churchstaffing.com is a serious site that churches uses to seek a […]

A Caution in “Evaluating Worship”

Multiple summers, while living in Miami, massive spots in my lawn were completely parched. I am not referring to small spots that can be corrected with a few patches of grass; I mean embarrassingly ruined sections of my lawn that caused my neighbors to cast looks of sympathy my way because my house had potentially […]

Do We Worship the Creation or the Creator?

On May 27, 2009, the world’s largest worship venue opened in Arlington, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. With close to 30,000 parking spaces, the ability to hold 110,000 people, a state-of-the-art sound system, and a gigantic center-hung, high-definition television screen that measures 160 x 72 feet, it is the perfect location to gather, sing, shout, […]

The Unity of Babel

In Genesis 11, our triune God intervened and confused the language of the people of Babel who were building for their own namesake. In their own effort and for their own merit, they were attempting to achieve security (a tower to protect them), community (a city with people), and identity (a name for themselves). Because […]

Four E’s of Building a Team

A wise leader obsesses over having the right players on the team. Whether hiring employees or recruiting volunteers, I find it helpful to have a general framework from which you view potential team members. Over the last couple of posts, I shared some thinking on the four C’s: character, competence, chemistry, and conviction. I personally […]

Trust in the Father

Jesus utilized children as an object lesson for true faith. He told the crowd of adults that they must become like children to enter the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 18:2–3). What was His point? What was He suggesting? Children are extremely trusting, often too trusting. When Jesus invited children to come to Him, they eagerly […]

Transformed Affections

Jonathan Edwards preached during the first Great Awakening, the greatest revival in American history. God used him uniquely, and many people came to faith in Christ through his ministry. But several years later many believed that some who claimed to have become Christians during the Great Awakening were not true disciples. There was no change, […]

Four C’s of Building a Team, part two

To help ministry leaders think about how they recruit people to join their teams, I thought it would be helpful to look at two frameworks commonly used in recruiting/hiring. One that has been particularly helpful to me is the Four C’s: character, competence, chemistry, and conviction. I wrote about character and competence on Tuesday, so […]

Four C’s of Building a Team

A wise leader obsesses over having the right players on the team. A team filled with the right players is exponentially more effective than a team filled with the wrong players. Whether hiring employees or recruiting volunteers, I find it helpful to have a general framework from which you view potential team members. Two of […]