Author: Seth Barnes

The NFL goes to our Swazi base

Written by Seth Barnes on June 25, 2010. Posted in Eswatini / Swaziland. No Comments on The NFL goes to our Swazi base

Dear Tony, George, & Cornell, Thanks for caring enough about the people of Swaziland to join Phil & our team there – you made a difference. Statistics that just...

Living a life where miracles are normal

Written by Seth Barnes on June 24, 2010. Posted in Amazing God Stories. 2 Comments on Living a life where miracles are normal

Jesus wants us to live lives that are no less dramatic and miracle-filled than his disciples. Our young missionaries in Africa experience this reality all the time. For example,...

Starting over after you crash & burn

Written by Seth Barnes on June 23, 2010. Posted in Reaching Your Destiny. 17 Comments on Starting over after you crash & burn

What does it take to reach your destiny? I think it takes a white flag of surrender. You need to reach the end of your own resources and realize that if God doesn’t show up,...

Little things sucking the life out of you

Written by Seth Barnes on June 22, 2010. Posted in Dealing with junk in our lives. 8 Comments on Little things sucking the life out of you

I was picking ticks off of Whimsy tonight. Three small ones and two that had begun to grow. It was gross, but had to be done. Little things, unexposed to light can become big problems. Pornography,...

Jesus’ counterintuitive gospel

Written by Seth Barnes on June 21, 2010. Posted in Spiritual Formation. 11 Comments on Jesus’ counterintuitive gospel

For most of my life, I’ve been trying to separate the Americanized Jesus I grew up with from the Jesus I keep reading about in Scripture. The American Jesus doesn’t ask...

My son tells parents to ‘let ’em struggle’

Written by Seth Barnes on June 20, 2010. Posted in Parenting. 4 Comments on My son tells parents to ‘let ’em struggle’

My kids are grown up and in their 20’s, but the growing up part wasn’t easy. Karen and I had to let them go through a lot of stuff and were continually tempted to interrupt...

The secular-sacred dichotomy

Written by Seth Barnes on June 19, 2010. Posted in Leadership. 4 Comments on The secular-sacred dichotomy

I was talking to some businessmen tonight who faced messy situations in a business that had been run into the ground. It was losing money and had so many problems, its leaders had...

The sex trade is an abomination

Written by Seth Barnes on June 18, 2010. Posted in Sex Trade and Sex Trafficking. 8 Comments on The sex trade is an abomination

It’s sickening to see 13 year-old girls recruited by their parents to become prostitutes. It’s disgusting that a culture would be so sex-obsessed that it would be normative...

We need more activists

Written by Seth Barnes on June 17, 2010. Posted in Courage. 6 Comments on We need more activists

Jesus was an activist. He stirred things up. He made people mad. He took on the existing social order. Following him was often a stressful proposition. Which raises the question:...

Bloom where you’re planted

Written by Seth Barnes on June 16, 2010. Posted in Reaching Your Destiny. 10 Comments on Bloom where you’re planted

Some of you figure you’ve been dealt a pretty poor hand in life. Maybe you’ve got debts piling up, or you’ve had bad luck in relationships, or you can’t find...

Is it time to declare a mission trip moratorium?

Written by Seth Barnes on June 15, 2010. Posted in Short-term missions. 16 Comments on Is it time to declare a mission trip moratorium?

Writing in Sojourners, Troy Jackson declared that it’s time to declare a moratorium on short-term mission trips. He makes the following points: According to Wycliffe Associates,...

Witness to horror

Written by Seth Barnes on June 14, 2010. Posted in Wounded healers. 4 Comments on Witness to horror

Jesus wants more of his followers to see the world’s pain, horrible though it may be. This is not a happy thing for most of us. It produces a sense of dissonance in us since...

When your house in ruins, what do you do?

Written by Seth Barnes on June 13, 2010. Posted in Haiti. 1 Comment on When your house in ruins, what do you do?

Here’s a man who has a sad but wonderful story. His house collapsed, yet his wife and eight kids miraculously survived. They’re in a tent city, but the owner of the land...

Join us for the Awakening

Written by Seth Barnes on June 12, 2010. Posted in World Race. 1 Comment on Join us for the Awakening

Many of you have already heard of The Awakening, a worship conference we do for World Racers in the field. Anyone on the World Race will be going to this year’s conference...

Decide to make a difference

Written by Seth Barnes on June 11, 2010. Posted in Reaching Your Destiny. 5 Comments on Decide to make a difference

Think about the parable of the lost sheep. The shepherd leaves 99 sheep to go looking for one. Every day you can partner with God to do that. Daily you face decisions that can make...

A healing in Haiti

Written by Seth Barnes on June 10, 2010. Posted in Amazing God Stories. 7 Comments on A healing in Haiti

Evansbord is being healed. This video shows more of the story. Here are some highlights from the earlier blog. Evansbord was taken to a witch doctor at two months old. He lays knees...

Who are you?

Written by Seth Barnes on June 9, 2010. Posted in Identity issues. 5 Comments on Who are you?

I was running through the neighborhood. Up ahead was a small boy playing by himself in a driveway. He stared at me intently and as I ran by, he called out a question, “Who...

My son goes looking for Magdala

Written by Seth Barnes on June 8, 2010. Posted in Orphans. 7 Comments on My son goes looking for Magdala

On my recent trip to Haiti, I wrote about a particular orphan girl named Magdala whom I’d met in an orphanage. Later, I asked my son, Seth Jr., who is in Haiti, to go back...

The Culture of Narcissism

Written by Seth Barnes on June 7, 2010. Posted in Identity issues. 7 Comments on The Culture of Narcissism

Interesting recent article in the New York Times. Any study that tries to quantify empathy needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but you can take this particular survey yourself...

Cultivating the habit of thankfulness: Week #4

Written by Seth Barnes on June 6, 2010. Posted in Blog Community. 7 Comments on Cultivating the habit of thankfulness: Week #4

It’s been a few weeks since we did this as a blog community (see last one here) and I for one need it. I went a couple of days this past week with a dark cloud over me. A couple...

5 ways Christians fail

Written by Seth Barnes on June 5, 2010. Posted in Culture and Faith. 28 Comments on 5 ways Christians fail

Saw this article by John Shore on the Huffington Post – I’m copying half of it here. Helps us see and understand our blind spots. When nonChristians look at us, too often,...

A Cambodian who refused to die

Written by Seth Barnes on June 4, 2010. Posted in Justice issues. 4 Comments on A Cambodian who refused to die

When I was 21, a senior in college, I read about the horror going on in Cambodia and I knew I needed to go over there and help. Pol Pot and his cohorts were performing a ghastly...

Going ‘all in’ with God

Written by Seth Barnes on June 3, 2010. Posted in Lordship. 14 Comments on Going ‘all in’ with God

I was playing Texas Hold ‘Em at Jeff Hylton’s house with a bunch of other guys. I had a good hand – two pair. And then the dealer flipped another card and it...

Man does not live on bread alone

Written by Seth Barnes on June 2, 2010. Posted in Listening prayer. 2 Comments on Man does not live on bread alone

Jesus was in a miserable place. The desert sun scorched his flesh. He had no food to eat. And then, who should he meet there in that vulnerable spot but his mortal enemy. The...