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Would You Vote for Samson?
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how a body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things” (Ecclesiastes 11:5). We are a week out from what is certainly a consequential election. We are living in crazy and scary times. Thankfully, up to this point in our history, we have had the opportunity to vote for a new president every four years. Imagine living in times or places where people did not get that opportunity, when a king or dictator ruled for life. Our ability to vote is something for which we should thank God.…
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Garissa
5:00 AM, April 2, 2015, Garissa University College, Garissa, Kenya. For sleepy heads it’s time to roll over and get a few more hours of sleep. For all nighters it’s time to grab another cup of coffee and push a little harder. For serious students it’s time to get up and review for today’s exam. For party types it’s time to find a bed somewhere and sleep it off once again. For committed Christians it’s time to gather for prayer. For al-Shabaab it’s time to kill. For Josephine, student leader of the Cru movement on campus, it’s time to die… The Christians gathered at the appointed time, 5:00 AM, under…
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When the Numbers Stop Working
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken We use numbers to hold our lives together and demonstrate our value in life. Numbers measure time or distance or height or age or the amount of power we have or value, especially the value of our identity: our address, our net worth, our power (an office suite or a penthouse on the 50th floor is a lot more impressive than the 2nd floor), our business success (25 years on the job is more impacting than 5 months). And now we use numbers to tell us how to be happy and (maybe) how to please God. I say maybe about pleasing God because…
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Off the Shelf Discipleship
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Recently I ran into a researcher who received a grant to determine how pastors are doing discipleship these days. When I asked him what he’s discovering, he said, “Pastors are going to the Christian book store and buying what’s on the shelf.” Off the shelf discipleship. Whatever looks good. Whatever works. Now there are several good discipleship resources on the shelf, and many pastors are consulting what others have done while putting their own thinking together, a very good step. Yet many others could be making two serious mistakes that are giving disciple making a very short shelf life in…
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Live the Jesus Lifestyle: Make Disciples
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken The most disobeyed directive Jesus ever gave is the last directive Jesus ever gave: make disciples. Nothing could be plainer than Jesus’ final marching orders: make disciples! That’s what He said, that’s what He meant. Yet all over the world we find pastors, churches, deacons, elders and church members who are radically disobedient. Some are ignorant, others are willful, but they are disobedient nonetheless. Pastors give in to tradition and the demands of their people and choose to disobey Jesus’ final command. Many seem to think that ministry is about making them successful, or keeping their job secure, which they…
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Is Your Altar as Big as Your Heart?
Leadership is broken because leaders are unbroken Is Your Altar as Big as Your Heart? When I was twelve years old I put my heart on God’s altar. It happened on a Sunday morning when Mr. Stewart, the superintendent of the junior high Sunday school department in my church, exhorted us mightily to give our all to the Lord. I don’t remember what he said, just that he spoke with intense passion about giving our all to Christ. As I listened I remember distinctly thinking, “That’s what I thought it’s all about. That’s what I did when I trusted Jesus as my Savior.” I became a Christian in my…
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Broken Leadership – Why is Leadership Broken?
Leadership is broken today. The evidence abounds all around us. *Leaders search for solutions only to discover bigger problems than ever. *Followers seek for leaders of integrity only to find pursuers of self-interest. *Organizations long for leaders who unify only to find controllers who divide. *Staff members hope for leaders who value them only to find ambitious men and women who use them. *Wives hope for strong men to lead them only to find passive men who avoid them. *Children crave fathers who will nurture them only to find selfish men who ignore them. Perhaps the greatest evidence of broken leadership in our world is the number of books that…
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Tough Hope
The Communists said there is no God. The people of Biserica Baptista Speranta (Hope Baptist Church) thought differently no matter what the Communists said. For months during the Communist era the people of Hope Baptist Church worked to renovate an unused building on a main street in downtown Arad, one of the major evangelical centers of Romania. They labored out of love for the Lord because the building they were in was old and small and the Repenters had outgrown it despite Communist opposition to their message. The label "Repenter" was given to Christians in mockery of their message. In an Orthodox culture where everyone is thought to be…