Sunday through Tuesday of this week I was in Wichita for the EFCA Midwest District annual conference. I've driven through Wichita on my way to and from Oklahoma and Texas a number of times, but I had never spent any time in the city. My friend Abdel, who spoke at our church in September and who...
Last Saturday night was the first of four monthly discussion groups for the "Go Underground" project. The idea is simple: gather two or more churches with very different racial demographics to simply discuss various issues related to race, race relations, racial wounds, and so on. We joined with...
I’m writing this week’s article from Chicago at the annual EFCA Theology Conference held at Trinity International University (affiliated with the EFCA). This year’s theme is the doctrine of Creation, but with a focus that is perhaps unexpected. Rather than various speakers...
Alleanza When Jesus shares the Last Supper with His disciples in the upper room, He calls the bread His “body” and the cup of wine the “new covenant in My blood.” The old covenant was with the people of Israel as described in the Old Testament. He was creating a new...
I have tried dozens and dozens of ways to organize my prayer life, all the way from no structure to NASA-level detailed. I've tried a Daily/Weekly/Monthly scheme. I've used the Lord's Prayer as a scheme, and even wrote about it here a few years ago. And so many more. These have all been good...
As we approach the Super Bowl, we also approach all those annual comparisons between church crowds and football crowds. "Do you get as excited for Jesus as you do for a touchdown?" "You can't get up early enough for Sunday school, but you'll get up earlier than that to tailgate on game...
In the last 6 months, I have been affected 8 times by death. Four of those involved hospice. My father passed away after a series of ailments put him under in-home hospice care. A close family friend (to whom we had just given my dad's lift chair) committed suicide. Most of us know Chris, even...
In our message last Sunday about living a life of surrender, I used the phrase "A more expensive trust in the surrender of Jesus." I'd like to unpack that just a little more here. Surrender of Jesus: We start here. Everything starts here. What Jesus did on the Cross by giving his life, taking...
I wish I were more for you. For 2019, I wish that I would be able to teach you more, comfort you more, encourage you more, inspire you more, and redirect you more. I wish that I would be able to do more for the long-term success of your family and of our church family. I wish that I was more...
I'm very excited about the "Go Underground" project coming up in February, and I would love to see you sign up! After our years in LA, in the Deep South, and partnering with various churches and leaders around Kansas City, my heart has never been more broken for racial tensions and disparities...