Author: Seth Barnes

How To Mobilize People To Go To Another Level

Written by Seth Barnes on March 13, 2018. Posted in Mobilization. 8 Comments on How To Mobilize People To Go To Another Level

If you follow Jesus and are making him Lord of your life, then someone somewhere along the line mobilized you. Somebody helped get you to this place you are at with God. Pete Willson...

People Who Never Got to Grieve

Written by Seth Barnes on March 7, 2018. Posted in Debriefing. 3 Comments on People Who Never Got to Grieve

Have you lost something and never grieved it? Many of us have experienced terrible pain at some point in our lives, but life just kept going. We buried our hurt just to survive....

Why We Need to Spend Time Living in the Slums

Written by Seth Barnes on February 28, 2018. Posted in Poverty. 12 Comments on Why We Need to Spend Time Living in the Slums

Karen and I didn’t just move to Indonesia in 1981, we moved into the slums of Jakarta. An open sewer flowed in front of our home. We didn’t have a fridge or a stove....

The Deeper Life You Were Made For

Written by Seth Barnes on February 20, 2018. Posted in Identity issues. 2 Comments on The Deeper Life You Were Made For

Who are you? What is your purpose? Do you matter? Those are questions that can only be answered when you choose the deeper life. Like many adolescents, I...

Learning to Be Papa Daddy

Written by Seth Barnes on February 13, 2018. Posted in Fathering & Men's issues. 14 Comments on Learning to Be Papa Daddy

Being a father came pretty naturally. I have loved so many aspects of the role – especially playing, teaching and discovering. When our children began having children, Karen...

Andrew Shearman – A Gift to Your Spirit

Written by Seth Barnes on February 6, 2018. Posted in 42nd Generation. 9 Comments on Andrew Shearman – A Gift to Your Spirit

Andrew Shearman believes in a God who is hopelessly in love with his children. He’s a God who’s family man, a Father who wants his kids back. I met Andrew when I...

Our Experience Building a Culture of Grace and Intimacy

Written by Seth Barnes on January 30, 2018. Posted in Community and Covenant. 6 Comments on Our Experience Building a Culture of Grace and Intimacy

We all crave grace. And we crave intimacy. But how many of us ever find them? Getting to intimacy is scary – it requires risks and pain. Our quick-solution culture doesn’t...

What Does It Mean to be Interdenominational?

Written by Seth Barnes on January 25, 2018. Posted in Community and Covenant. 2 Comments on What Does It Mean to be Interdenominational?

Interdenominational means “relating to more than one religious denomination” but does it really? Do we relate to other denominations? Are we deeply connected to those...

How To Live a Life that Glows in the Dark

Written by Seth Barnes on January 17, 2018. Posted in Finding your call. No Comments on How To Live a Life that Glows in the Dark

Do you ever feel like there must be more to life? Does the script of your life feel humdrum? What if God had a different script for you? What if the life he intended for...

To Combat Comfort-Addiction, Become Interruptible

Written by Seth Barnes on January 10, 2018. Posted in Lordship. 15 Comments on To Combat Comfort-Addiction, Become Interruptible

My parents now live in Smoky Springs, a retirement home here in Gainesville, GA. Some of the residents are spry and alive. But many of them have checked out. Life for them is measured...

God is Moving in Iran

Written by Seth Barnes on January 4, 2018. Posted in The Holy Spirit is on the move. 7 Comments on God is Moving in Iran

Quick – where is Christianity growing the fastest in the world? Answer: Iran. Who would have guessed that? Iran, of all places, that hotbed of Islamic revolution and...

How to Plan for 2018 & a New Year

Written by Seth Barnes on December 29, 2017. Posted in Leadership. 4 Comments on How to Plan for 2018 & a New Year

Most people are not great planners. They prefer to have other people do the planning. But when it comes to living the life that God wants you to live, it’s important...

What to Do With an Unsafe Family Member

Written by Seth Barnes on December 24, 2017. Posted in Living Free. 10 Comments on What to Do With an Unsafe Family Member

Welcome to Christmas 2017. It’s an interesting time with intersecting relationships. Blended families and extended families and oddball friends find their way into your living...

The 3 Incarnations of Jesus

Written by Seth Barnes on December 13, 2017. Posted in Lordship. 3 Comments on The 3 Incarnations of Jesus

At Christmas, we celebrate the incarnation. Jesus took on flesh. The Latin word carne means “flesh.” Thus incarnation means literally “putting on flesh.” 1....

Why Your Weakness is Actually a Place of Strength

Written by Seth Barnes on December 7, 2017. Posted in Comfort and Pain. No Comments on Why Your Weakness is Actually a Place of Strength

I don’t like feeling weak. And for that reason, here’s a verse I love and hate. “For Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in...

Why Do We Travel?

Written by Seth Barnes on November 28, 2017. Posted in Journeys. 3 Comments on Why Do We Travel?

I was inspired to travel in part because I was born to a traveling family. My parents met in Yosemite, and raised me in Italy and five American towns before I decamped for college....

A Prophet Gets No Respect In His Home Town

Written by Seth Barnes on November 24, 2017. Posted in Lordship. 9 Comments on A Prophet Gets No Respect In His Home Town

Black Friday is a day when we cheapen and devalue things. And it’s part of a season where many people do the same thing to those they are closest to. Thanksgiving and Christmas...

Working on Problems that Matter

Written by Seth Barnes on November 18, 2017. Posted in A broken world. 5 Comments on Working on Problems that Matter

We all work on problems, but how many of them really matter? That is to say, a problem that matters to God. Many of us have problems that don’t matter to anyone other...

Running from Intimacy

Written by Seth Barnes on November 15, 2017. Posted in Vulnerability and me. 9 Comments on Running from Intimacy

We were in a room where, sobbing, my friend shared a secret – he’d been abused as a child. He had felt so scared and ashamed. The small group sat listening, and when...

6 Questions That Get You to Destiny

Written by Seth Barnes on November 7, 2017. Posted in Identity issues. 4 Comments on 6 Questions That Get You to Destiny

Do you have a destiny? Or is God more hands-off with your life, leaving you to figure it out? It’s an important question. If God has a plan for your life, then you can wake...

What it Takes to Walk Into Destiny

Written by Seth Barnes on October 31, 2017. Posted in Courage. 1 Comment on What it Takes to Walk Into Destiny

“Let my people go!” has been the cry of liberators down through the centuries. It was William Wallace’s as well. William Wallace (aka Braveheart) was...

When You Realize Who You Really Are

Written by Seth Barnes on October 26, 2017. Posted in Identity issues. 2 Comments on When You Realize Who You Really Are

All your life you think about the question, “Who am I?” Or at least it’s true for me. When we can get clear of the clutter and confusion of everyday living and...

A Global Network of Kingdom-Focused Hostels

Written by Seth Barnes on October 20, 2017. Posted in Innovation. 10 Comments on A Global Network of Kingdom-Focused Hostels

For a while now, a number of us have been incubating a dream. Scott Kwak was the first one to step out in faith and commit to it. We believe that God wants to see His people...

The Importance of Grandchildren

Written by Seth Barnes on October 11, 2017. Posted in Community and Covenant. 10 Comments on The Importance of Grandchildren

Today our eldest daughter Talia gives birth to our third grandchild – a baby girl. The C-section is scheduled for 10 am. Even though it’s still early as I write this,...