Despite the adoption of coffee bars, powerpoint presentations, and full-stage lighting, churches are seldom on the cutting edge when it comes to addressing demographic trends. Here are six dramatic trends that are not being addressed adequately by local churches, church networks, or denominations. If we continue to ignore these trends for another decade, churches will [...]
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Archive | February, 2012
Podcast: Creation Care Isn’t All Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows
February 28, 2012
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In the story of God’s promise never to destroy the earth with a flood again, God sets a rainbow in the sky as a reminder that God cares for his creation. The promise God makes — the Noahic covenant — is a promise to Noah, his descendants, and to every living creature with Noah, and [...]
Read moreSermon: Creation Care Isn’t All Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows
February 25, 2012
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Here’s the sermon I’m preaching tomorrow on the first Sunday in Lent for 2012. This reading is from the revised common lectionary, Year B, Genesis 9:8-17. In conjunction with this reading, we are also reading from the epistles, 1 Peter 3:18-22. Creation care deserves our lenten attention as we focus on God’s covenant with Noah, [...]
Read moreThe Possibility of Church-led Reconciliation
February 20, 2012
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Almost fifty years ago, a Baptist minister stood before a sea of hopeful people in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial to share the dream God had given him. On that day the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, sons of [...]
Read morePodcast: If You’re Going Down To the River, Choose The Right One
February 17, 2012
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When Naaman is told by the prophet Elisha to go and wash himself in the River Jordan seven times to heal his leprosy, Naaman is outraged. He prefers the “rivers of Damascus,” his home town. But if Naaman had not obeyed Elisha, he would have missed out on something wonderful. Just a reminder that not [...]
Read moreReconciliation and the Ministry of the Local Church
February 15, 2012
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I’ve been busy writing my Fuller DMin dissertation on the church as a reconciling community. Two things are becoming more apparent to me each day that I research and write on this topic. First, the church’s primary ministry is reconciliation. The Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians: 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is [...]
Read morePodcast: What Real Authority Looks Like
February 1, 2012
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The people gathered in the old synagogue at Capernaum were amazed that Jesus taught “as one who had authority” and not like the teachers they were used to hearing. What did Jesus say and do that amazed those who heard him? And how was Jesus’ authority different from the religious leaders of his day? Understanding [...]
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Podcasts
- Living in the Power of Pentecost
- A Mother's Sacrifice
- Worshipping and DoubtingIn Matthew 28:16-20, we usually miss verse 17: "They worshipped him, but some doubted." What did the 11 disciples doubt during this post-resurrection appearance of Jesus? Did they doubt that he had been resurrected? Or that he was the Messiah, the Son of God? Or did they doubt themselves and their ability to carry on after Jesus left them? The inte […]
- If You Love Jesus
- Living in Light of Easter
