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Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with different people around the idea of “duplicating what God created.” We didn’t call it that, and never used those words, but that was the point of our discussions. What do I mean? Well, as humans, we tend to be methodical. When we see something that “works,” we tend to want to re-created it… duplicating the systems and processes that seemed to produce the...

Dave Black’s latest essay “Rhino Evangelism” is an admonishment away from “impersonal approaches to the Gospel” and towards “loving” those we wish to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. Is Dave against spontaneous or confrontational evangelism? Of course not, as long as the one proclaiming the gospel truly loves and cares for the other person/people. While the gospel will be a stumbling block and divisive...

Two years ago, as part of a synchroblog with 50 other bloggers, I wrote a post called “Missional Stew.” The purpose of the synchroblog was to flesh out a definition of the term “missional.” For my post, I simply threw in a few ingredients that I think are necessary for a true missional stew. What do you think? ————————————————&#...

On Sundays, we’ve started studying through Genesis together. Yesterday, I taught and led a discussion on Genesis chapters 3 and 4. While the first two chapters of Genesis focused on creation (and specifically the creation of mankind and the special relationship between mankind and God and between man and woman), by the time we get to chapters 3 and 4, we find out why our world is broken. The brokenness that begins in chapter 3 affects every...

A couple of times, Paul calls himself a “servant” of the gospel: Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. (Ephesians 3:7 ESV) He has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the ...

Recently, I was speaking with a friend who is a missionary to the Dominican Republic. Amid our encouraging talk I asked him about discouraging aspects of his ministry. His answer surprised me. He confessed that the most discouraging aspect of ministry in his region is the other missionaries. He went on to describe in detail how so many western churches send people to the island for mission work but in reality they are just on a vacation. They col...

Sometimes I like to read Dave Black’s blog posts. Sometimes I don’t. I haven’t decided how I feel about one of his latest entries (Today, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 at 4:30 p.m.): I realize that many of my readers are committed to following Jesus and His model for the church, yet we seem to get bogged down in the practical application of biblical truth. What would happen if we went back to square one? What if we recalibrated our ...

So… consider these two phrases: … teaching them what I commanded you… … teaching them to do what I commanded you… Which one reflects a portion of the Great Commission? What is the difference between the two phrases? What does this say about teaching? Like Unlike Related Posts:Great Commission for us?Almost meaningless phrasesTeaching the ChurchTeaching and the Spiritual Gift of TeachingDisciple making 1: The comma...

Yeah, it’s true. Some people need to lighten up. Did you read what Dave Black said about the Great Commission? (Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 7:57 a.m.) The Great Commission is the church’s marching orders. Period. It sums up the mission of every individual follower of Jesus and every believing family and every church and every Christian organization. It even sums up our marriages. The first task of every Christian is to extend the kingdo...

Last Sunday, when we discussed the Great Commission passage from Matthew 28:18-20, I asked whether this command (“make disciples”) was only intended for the eleven apostles or if it was also intended for us and all other disciples of Jesus Christ? There were two good reasons to see this command as intended for all disciples (including us). First, Jesus told the elven to make disciples by “teaching them to observe all that I have...