We often define the Christian life as a relationship. It’s a vital part of our theology and our language. We need a vertical relationship with God and horizontal relationships with others (ref., John 22:37-40; 1 John 1:3). That’s absolutely true, but the Christian life is much more than that, and I believe we’ve inhibited our outreach and discipleship by communicating …

People still ask me questions about my book, Leading from the Heart, which I wrote 20 years ago. The subtitle, “A small group leader’s guide to a passionate ministry,” defines my original intended audience, small group leaders, plus the coaches and pastors who work with them. Like several of my other books, the audience really includes a much larger category …

The following is an excerpt from my October 2020 Letter from the Editor in Christian Standard magazine. Great leaders have a blend of humility—they know that they don’t know everything—and a curiosity to discover answers. They are constantly learning from a variety of sources, beginning with God’s Word, but also through books, mentors, failures, crises, and personal struggles, to name …

What do God’s people do when faced with challenges like a worldwide pandemic or civil unrest? We always have a choice: immediately seek solutions or turn to God. Of course, this is not a binary choice—we can do both—but it’s vital for God’s church that we “seek first” to place our trust in him. The coronavirus and its effects are …

“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. …