This is Day 2 of my 7 ideas your group or class or family can use to celebrate Christmas. See #1 HERE.This Christmas, move past the historical Jesus who was born and lived 2,000 years ago. Consider the living Christ...
Tag: Fellowship with God
Spiritual Life
The Lord Is on Our Side
The Lord is on our side. I came across these six little words as I read Psalm 124 this morning. These words are so vital to our lives that the writer, David, asked the people to repeat them. I took...
Leader's Heart-Overflow, Ministry Leaders
What Should Happen with a Leader Who Has No Time for God?
What should a church or small group pastor do when they discover that a small group leader is not spending time daily with God--assuming this is an ongoing issue? Yes, there are times that most of us have gone through the desert,...
Leader's Heart-Overflow
The Brazil Cell-Church Conference: What I Learned … #5 – Go with the Flow
One of my favorite topics to speak on is the principle of overflow. In my training, I use a pitcher to represent God and everything that he wants to pour into us and a glass to represent our lives. I...
Small Group Leaders
The Brazil Cell-Church Conference: What I Learned … #2: Community Is Not All It Should Be (even in Brazil)
It's been a couple weeks since returning from my trip to Brazil, training cell pastors and leaders at two conferences. Yesterday, I shared the first of some of my discoveries from my trip: Community Is a Way of Life in...
Leader's Heart-Overflow, Spiritual Life
5 Minute Daily Devotions for Leaders … C’mon Man!
I am reposting some of most-read posts from the past as I speak at the Cell-Church Conference in Brazil. Tomorrow, I begin teaching in Águas de Lindoia, which is in the south of Brazil, about a two and a half hour...
Leader's Heart-Overflow, Spiritual Life
Silencing the Monkeys in the Banana Tree
I came across a quote in an article by Henri Nouwen recently that made me laugh and then made me think: Your inner life is like a banana tree filled with monkeys jumping up and down.* This is hilarious ......
Leader's Heart-Overflow
The Counter-Intuitive Cure for Leader Stress and Burnout
I am finishing up preparation for my trip to Brazil next week, speaking a total of 10 times at a Cell-Church Conference there. Because I'll be away from home for about 12 days, I am also working on four writing...
Small Group Leaders
7 Grace-Filled Principles for Building Commitment to Spiritual Practices (Commitment and Small Groups Series #13)
In yesterday's post, I discussed what you as a leader can do when group members resist making a commitment to grow spiritually. How can you help them grow, and, even first, want to grow, without pushing them, judging them, or being...
Small Group Leaders
The Personal Commitment that Makes the Group Commitment Stronger (Commitment and Small Groups Series #7)
Your personal commitment to Christ has a tremendous effect on everyone else in your group. When you are not growing in your own faith, your fellow group members lose something: your influence on them. But when you are committed to...