The past year revealed many Christians being animated by the wrong “spirit” and buying into lies and misinformation rather than the truth. Here’s some wisdom from Jesus for the New Year. … More ‘Spirit’ and ‘Truth’ for a New Year
John Mark Comer, in his book Live No Lies, leads the church and pastors like me into the necessary conversations about what’s really underneath all the other cultural conversations and debates. John Mark embodies three of the main values and goals of Kingdom Harbor as he attempts to give Christians 1) a robust Biblical theology, 2) pathways for soul formation, and 3) Jesus-shaped cultural commentary. … More Lies About Freedom, Sex, Truth & Culture
What a sad day it is when those called to show the world the true character and embracing love of God end up preaching bigotry, withholding grace, and turning a cold shoulder to those we’ve labeled the Other. … More Waters of Enemy-Love
Jesus invites us into his boat, and sends us onto the seas of culture to be wise and winsome, gathering others into his boat. In this message, Jeremy offers 3 different postures Christians can have toward the culture (Reflect, Reject, or Redeem), urging us to resist the first two and embrace the third. … More WATCH: Sailing the Cultural Seas with Jesus
This is a teaser from a sermon on the Book of Revelation. This message explores Jesus’ messages to the seven churches mentioned in Revelation chapters 2 & 3, and the messages Christ might have for churches today. Watch full message here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwsc9…
I’m grateful for the wise and courageous leadership of our Conference Superintendent Mark Stromberg. These are some words from a recent letter to churches and pastors. The ministries in which you are involved matter. The manner in which you conduct yourselves also counts, as it is noticed by others and either reflects well on your … More Wise Words for Church Leaders
These small dry packets contain the raw materials that come alive and reveal their true taste and color when steeped in a hot cup of water. This is an apt metaphor for spiritual formation. … More Steeped: Tea Bag Faith
You know you’ve successfully launched a social revolution when even non-coffee drinkers like me are regularly heard saying, “Hey, wanna grab coffee this week?” … More Apostle Paul at Starbucks
While other Jewish teachers were content to spend their time teaching in the synagogue, here is Paul sipping coffee at the ancient equivalent of a Starbucks in the ancient equivalent of Time Square in the ancient equivalent of New York City. … More The Writing is on the Wall
“Our culture has accepted two huge lies. The first is that if you disagree with someone’s lifestyle, you must fear or hate them. The second is that to love someone means you agree with everything they believe or do. Both are nonsense. You don’t have to compromise convictions to be compassionate.” -RICK WARREN
PENTECOST REFLECTION | Gen. 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21 Can you imagine Facebook or Twitter without disagreement or conflicting viewpoints? Can you imagine a world without political division? Can you imagine a world united by one language and motivated by one grand purpose? We live in a cultural moment of unprecedented division. Some have said our nation … More Our Global Speech Impediment
“Cheap grace is the grace we bestow on ourselves. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession…Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” -DIETRICH BONHOEFFER The creed of contemporary Christianity offers “A God without wrath [who] … More QUOTABLES: The Cross in Our Culture
Here are some foundational leadership principles passed on to me related to ongoing congregational health and mission. How have these manifested themselves in your personal ministry? In your lay leaders? In your congregation? Leadership definition: “Leadership is the process by which a man or a woman, guided by the Holy Spirit, influences a group of … More Leadership Axioms for Healthy Congregations
Christianity Today (September ’16) featured the findings of a LifeWay Research survey that asked 2,000 people who do NOT attend church what would draw them to one. The results were revealing: Skye Jethani, on the Phil Vischer Podcast, insightfully asked the following question while discussing this survey: What does it say about our deepest concerns and highest … More A Non-Anxious Presence in an Anxious World
One of the greatest concerns I have for the emerging generation is the growing pervasiveness of “mircro-communication” in their lives. I recently saw a 15 year old girl featured on “Nightline” who sends 30,000 text messages on her phone each month. Do the math: that’s 1,000 per day, 62 per waking hour, or one … More Combatting Soundbite Christianity
Qideas.org is tracking the Ten Most Significant Trends of the past decade. Interesting stuff, for example: At the Q gathering in 2010, urbanologist Richard Florida observed that young adults meeting one another no longer ask, “What do you do?” They ask, “Where do you live?” More and more people will change careers in order to stay … More 10 Significant Trends of Last Decade
Scot McKnight at Jesus Creed is exploring Christian Smith’s new book: Souls in Transition: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of Emerging Adults. Today the question is: What is the cultural world of the emerging adult? We’re talking about 46 million emerging adults… so generalizations need careful backing of evidence and all kinds of nuance. What … More Today’s Emerging Adults 1
Let me preface the following post by stating how important I feel it is for Christians to be open-minded and unafraid to generously engage and learn from people of differing viewpoints. I am a better person and a stronger, more committed follower and teacher of Biblical Christianity precisely because I allow my convictions to be … More A Plea for a Fuller Gospel Vision
Kingdom Harbor 