This is how great churches become great. Their members build intentional friendships and step by step, love people to Christ.
The Great Commission in the Old Testament
Long before Jesus issued his last command, a psalm-writer expressed the hope that one day people from every nation would worship God and be blessed by him. You might call Psalm 67 “The Great Commission in the Old Testament.”
4 Reasons My Kids Turned Out So Well
This is the month of Father’s Day and weddings, so every June I get asked, “What did you do to cause your kids to turn out so well?”
At this writing, Bryan is 24 and Amy is 23. By God’s grace, both of them love God more than I do. They’re committed to ministry, and purity, and integrity. They have great people skills. They’re leaders. And people love being around them. How did this happen? Here are my honest answers:
3 Reasons Why Faithfulness is More Important than Success
As a teenager, my pastor introduced me to 1 Cor. 4:2 – Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. According to Paul, faithfulness isn’t an option for God’s people, it’s a requirement.
On the other hand, while there’s never a command for us to be successful, Jesus does expect us to produce results. He doesn’t say, Go and TRY to make disciples. He says, “Go and MAKE disciples.”
But faithfulness is more important than any results we might experience, for three reasons:
Here’s the Foreword to The Bible Questions
August 2012 InterVarsity Press has released my newest book, The Bible Questions. I’m praying it introduces thousands who have never read Scripture to the wonders of God’s Word, and inspires tens of thousands of believers to develop regular Bible study habits. My friend Sergio De La Mora wrote the foreword to the book. So here […]
Do you Know these Top 10 Goals for Pastors?
Goals for Every Pastor Around this time of year, every leader I know is goaded by Isaiah 32:8, “The noble man makes noble plans and by noble deeds he stands.” I set my goals for next year this week. Some of them are personal, some professional, some physical, some familial. The process got me thinking. Are […]
Four Reasons I Don’t Pray
I hang out with enough Christian leaders to know that prayer is a challenge for just about every serious believer. Few of us pray as long or as fervently as we wish we did. The truth is, prayer is the most important action we can take in just about any situation. Satan knows this. Which […]
7 Benefits of Hosting a High-Profile Guest Speaker
In 2011, New Song hosted Scott Rigsby for what we call a “Wow Weekend.” Scott is a paraplegic triathlete – the only double amputee to complete the Hawaiian Iron Man competition. Scott did some things for us that we couldn’t have done for ourselves. His unique story of perseverance in the midst of pain gripped […]