The first two episodes of Tear Gas and Gumdrops, my new podcast with college buddy, youth minister and Marvel Comics guru Kyle Sapp is now live in iTunes.
The goal is similar to the goal of this website and the Boots on the Ground Facebook Group, to provide honest, helpful, grounded dialogue about ministry in the real world.
With 2015 upon us, many people spend time making grand resolutions. These are good, because they are a means for assessing our lives and setting goals.
But the fact is, we all have small things we can do, right now, that could immediately give us a better life. Why not start there, instead?
Here are 51 ideas I had. What would add? Continue Reading…
2014 has been a phenomenal year for me personally, and I appreciate all that you have done for me. As I gear up for next year (Podcast! Webinars! Freelancing! More!) I’m sharing some of my favorite content from the year before.
To receive my Christmas/New Years e-card, launch information about the podcast and more, sign up below.
Here’s an excerpt from today’s post I wrote over at Fresh Expressions:
Christmas remains one of the few times when people show an openness to hearing the story of Jesus, even if they aren’t open to church. If handled correctly, this can be one of the best opportunities of the year for directing conversation toward Jesus. However, a lack of forethought could make things worse.
A fresh expression is a church community that grows organically out of an established people group. Every people group and the individuals within it bring their own “baggage.” The baggage becomes almost tangible during the holidays.
Christmas could be one of your best opportunities to share about Jesus all year long. Handled poorly, it can reinforce negative stereotypes about “church.”
Read the whole post, and let me know what you’re up to for Christmas.
Recently, my church community Austin Mustard Seed and my former church community, Vox Veniae had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Cherith Fee Nordling on the important, yet often tricky concept of “embodied spirituality. Here’s an excerpt from a recap by Chris Morton.
Orthodox teaching, as is encapsulated by the Nicene and Apostles Creeds, states the mystery of our faith is this: Jesus is simultaneously 100% God and 100% human.
Obviously, this is a paradox. No one thing can be 200%. Heresies, argues Fee Nordling, crop up when people try to explain Jesus as anything other the mystery of 100% God and 100% human.
The problem that many of these heresies are trying to solve is “the flesh problem.” Many cultures, including many people today, don’t know what to do with our bodies. Our modern secular world seems torn between animalistic epicureanism (do whatever feels good!) and an obsession with productivity (life and body “hacking.”)
These heresies and many more, all try to address the same struggle: if bodies are bad, then how can Jesus be fully human (embodied) and fully God?
According to Fee Nordling, this isn’t a philosophical point. A misunderstanding of our bodies cheapens the story of scripture and causes many problems for daily life. The alternative is to understand what humans are, bodies, and all. The result is a much more tangible story of how God is plotting to help us “get our lives back.”
Growth and Mission provides tangible observations and actionable methods for living more like Jesus, as individuals and the Church. Please take a moment to subscribe below.
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