CHANGE, CHANGE, AND MORE CHANGE

Much of the church in the U.S., including my own, needs change, change, and more change.  Even a quick glance at what is happening around and among us should be enough to convince us that the church simply must change.  In the U.S., most denominations are in decline and some of them must “pull up” …

ON CHANGING CHURCHES

Given the current condition of our culture—both inside and outside the church—I think as many of us as possible should seriously consider changing churches!  Let me explain.   Some time ago, Lavone and I were driving somewhere, not on the interstate, but on a two-lane highway through the countryside.  We came up over a bluff …

Renewal is NOT a Missional Work-Around

Spiritual renewal requires followers of Jesus to be shaped (or “discipled”) into the KIND of people who become agents of God’s renewal.  IF renewal happens, it normally happens first to them and then through them to and for others. It is common for us to read the remarkable report on Pentecost Sunday (Acts 2) and …

The Whole Gospel—Vertical AND Horizontal

The Creator and Redeemer God passionately loves the world and all realities it entails past, present and future.  The world created supremely good, then subject to futility and corruption through human disobedience, has never escaped God’s majestic and mysterious plans.  Plans once unknown and beyond human imagining but then shockingly, powerfully and bodily manifested in …

What if Jesus Cleaned the Temple Again?

This Monday of Holy Week 2019, we read of Jesus’ cleansing of the Temple in Jerusalem on the Monday of that week (see Matt. 21:12-17; Mark 11:15-19; Luke 19:45-48).  As we continue to follow Jesus on his way to garden, cross, and tomb,  I have wondered: What would happen if Jesus, son of God, did …