“If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century. Every day I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.”  Dr. Martin Luther King wrote these …

As a small group leader, how many people do you think you can effectively lead, shepherd, and disciple? Eight? Ten? Twelve? Twenty? Let me ask this question another way: If you are to bear much fruit, fruit that will last . . . if you are to see true transformation of people’s lives . . . if you are to …

Why do some churches grow and multiply, some plateau, and others decline?  It’s a question I’ve considered for a long time, and my experience as well as everything I read and study and all the people I talk to reinforce my theory that growing churches do certain things and have a particular mind-set largely absent in stagnant and declining churches. …

The World’s Greatest Small Group Leader is a perfect model for us. Jesus’ priority was his relationship with his Father. He said and did and taught nothing on his own, but only what his Father gave him. Henri Nouwen once pointed out that Jesus spent about 50 percent of his time in solitude with the Father, about 40 percent building …

“Where are you?” The obvious answer to that question is a physical one … but there’s a much more vital spiritual answer. “Where are you?” is the simple, three-word question God asked Adam (Genesis 3:9) after he and his wife had committed the first sin. The question, while seemingly simple, is deep and full of theological implications. It’s the question …

Apparently, my Nativity scene—and yours—are all wrong. So are many of our favorite Christmas songs. Jesus was probably born on the ground-floor or courtyard of a home, not a barn. The wise men were not present at his birth, and we don’t know for sure there were three of them. Jesus’ birth likely occurred in the spring, not in December. …

People talk and sing a lot about joy, especially at this time of year, but as you look around, is there much joy to be found? Most people in the world find joy in sentiment and circumstances and stuff, but the Christian has a different sort of joy—a godly joy. Let’s look at some of the songs of the season …

The last five days have provided a rich lesson on leadership. Almost immediately after the passing of George H.W. Bush on Friday, November 30, I started noticing the words being used by people who knew him best to describe him. So I started jotting them down. Here’s my list: dignity, integrity character, humility, goodness, honor, courage, respect, dedicated, friend, kindness, …

God wants us to realize that we are works of art in progress, and we, as leaders—church leaders, small group leaders, teachers, parents, etc.—can envision others with this truth. I am fortunate that several people in my life took the time to help me see beyond my present circumstances to something better. God used to them to transform me into …

Reader, forgive me. It’s been 7 months since my last blog post. (If you grew up Catholic, as I did, I’m sure that first line has a familiar ring to it.) So . . . where have I been? As I wrote in a blog post back in June 2017, I became editor of Christian Standard magazine a little more …