When we planted our church in San Diego in 2005 (yay LifePoint!), we intentionally started in a redeveloping community. Two years later we were privileged to assist in our own small way a new church plant in the heart of downtown San Diego (Citywalk Christian Church). Over the years I've become convinced we need to purposefully target urban areas, here in the United States and around the world. There was a time in American history when a majority of the population lived in rural areas. That is no longer the case. In fact, nearly 17% of the United States population lives in one of five metropolitan areas: New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. These same five cities are dramatically under-churched. And they are not alone. You could add to that list Denver, Seattle, San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, and Peoria (I had to give a shout-out to…
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Growing leaders in any facet of life are always trying to answer the same question: "What's next?" During a season of growth, it might be tempting to consider settling down, playing it safe. It might seem reasonable to rest and enjoy. What appears to be a summit may actually be a plateau. A good leader will be thinking ahead ... "What's next?" When we find ourselves in the midst of a struggle, it's easy to ask "What's next?" and to expect that the answer means a release from our tension and conflict. That may be the answer; it also may not be the answer. The answer may lie in what God wants to teach us during the journey. Emerging stronger, we ask again "What's next?" Asking "What's next?" keeps us focused on the future -- on growing, developing, learning, and maturing. What's next for you?
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"“Once in seven years I burn all my sermons; for it is a shame if I cannot write better sermons now than I did seven years ago.” John Wesley Upon returning home after my dad died, I found a collection of notes and outlines from sermons I had delivered back when I was a teenager. As I read through them, it was as if I was having an out-of-body experience. "Did I really say that?" was a common thought that kept popping in my head. If I could have found every person who had happened to hear one of those messages, I would have apologized on the spot. Did they contain gross errors? Not necessarily. Often it was a matter of how I said something -- or the dogmatic certainty about issues that I no longer was dogmatic about it. Those were messages I had preached when I was 15-17 …
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“The test of a preacher is that his congregation goes away saying, not, 'What a lovely sermon!' but 'I will do something.'” -- Billy Graham Confession time: there have been times in my preaching past when I was more concerned with crafting a lovely sermon than I was about inspiring people to action. I imagine I am not alone among pastors. The temptation is always there. In searching for a story or movie clip, is it to enhance the loveliness of the message or to prompt a response by the listener? Am I interested in finding the right turn of a phrase in order to impress my audience or to challenge them? Good marketing include what is known as a "call to action." It answer the "so what?" question. So what am I supposed to do about what I've just seen or heard? A call to action explains the next…
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"Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith." -- Henry Ward Beecher There are a number of anxious people in our world -- and I don't mean the larger, global world, but your little corner of the landscape. We encounter anxious people at work, next door, and around the kitchen table. What is anxiety? Anxiety is anticipating something bad or dangerous happening and worrying about it before it happens. And many times, it never happens. On the other hand, faith is anticipating what God is capable of doing and waiting hopefully for it to happen. Fear or faith. Anxiety over what hasn't happened or hoping for what could happen. The choice is yours.
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