Book Review – Discipling

Discipleship can be a mysterious topic in churches. How do we do it well? What does it look like? Is it a formal didactic lecture or an informal hang time? Dever, as he tends to do well, simplifies the mystery in his book “Discipling” he provides a working definition of discipleship as quite simply “helping […]

Going Beyond

In Matthew 5:43-48 is another well known passage where Jesus is teaching on loving your enemies. Matt 5:44 says “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” Bonhoffer in “Cost of Discipleship” clarifies enemies are those who have hostility against us, not necessarily those against who we have hostility against. How we […]

Jesus Prays for You

John 17 is a very rich passage – it’s Jesus’ prayer before he is arrested, falsely tried, beaten and crucified. In it we see several things that are emphasized. Glorifying God – Jesus glorified God on Earth. How? By fulfilling the Father’s plan perfectly and faithfully. Likewise, we glorify God by doing his will – […]

Refocusing from the Post-Pastoral Haze

So. Yeah. This past Tuesday night I became a Pastor. Officially voted in. Some emotions include: humbled, joyful, numb, scared, excited, anxious, ready-to-get-going, did I mention humbled? I have a blurred memory that night of people asking me how I was feeling (perhaps I looked shocked or sick?) and my response was “Um…kinda numb right […]