Learning how to make commitments
Slowly, over a period of years, I’m learning about my children’s generation. I’m seeing their great potential and the areas where they struggle. Here’s my...
Author: Seth Barnes
What happened to the photo contest pictures?
Many of you have been wondering what happened with some of the missions photo contest pictures.
Well, the folks at the YouthWorker Journal were kind enough to use several of the...
Now it’s time to talk about ghosts
I saw the following article on a Baptist missions site.
David* never imagined he’d use ghosts as a way to share the Gospel.
A Christian worker in Cambodia, David was surveying...
How do I connect with God?
This is my last of three blogs on connecting, each illustrated by a song. Connecting with God is tough some times. A lot of days even though I don’t feel him, I pursue him...
Please talk to me
Something in us yearns to connect with other human beings.
Peter Gabriel expresses it well in this song, “Come Talk to Me.” He wrote it at a time when he was struggling...
Struggling to find yourself
In our modern era we struggle to connect in ways that should come more naturally to us. We should connect with others, with God, and most fundamentally, with ourselves. I’m...
God will vindicate you if you wait
Jennifer Smith told me this amazing story. I thought it was a great illustration of the principle that God will vindicate you if you’ll just trust him with your reputation.
Ten...
How do I resolve conflict?
God loves for his children to be at peace with one another. Jesus told his disciples, “don’t let your hearts be troubled.” In the same breath he said, “My...
A trip to witch mountain
A blog from Jamie Neumann in Guatemala:
This morning we got up early to go up to the witches caves here in Panajachel. Today is their day of worship to the deity San Simon.
Constantly...
Saying goodbye to Dudu
I know I already posted this morning, but I just read this blog from Pamela Philp and it hit me in the gut. So I wanted to share it with you. Dudu was a lady our team came to love...
Redefining your reality
“‘My ways are not your ways,’ says the Lord.” God sees things through a different lens than we do. We who follow Jesus spend most of our lives trying...
Discipleship requires your hunger
So many times as a young man I felt alone and unnoticed. In my evangelical church, I had a youth group, but no real connection with an older man who sought me out and wanted to invest...
You can be a hero
When was the last time you felt heroic? And what does it mean to be a hero anyway? I don’t think it’s trite to say that Jesus was the ultimate hero. I love the way the...
Killed for their faith by Muslims
I just received a letter from a friend and coworker of mine in a Muslim country in the middle east.
“Recently three of our colleagues have been killed in the northern part...
AIM: After 20 years it’s still about discipleship
This month a lot of people showed up in Gainesville to help Karen and I celebrate AIM’s 20 years of existence. It was kind of like the best aspects of a wedding or a funeral...
World race culture
We just completed the latest World Race training camp. You can read some of the reviews here. Four years into this thing, it’s apparent that we’ve evolved a strong sense...
World racing out of Montenegro on a smuggler’s bus
This is a good illustration of how World Race culture evolves [when we were their age, Karen & I actually used to do this stuff too. We took a bus ride from Bali to Jakarta that...
Your vulnerability will set people free
We’ve all got issues. We all struggle to get to a place of freedom in our lives. But here’s the paradox: as we share our struggle and weakness with others, we are strengthened....
How do YOU respond to the horror of abuse?
What does abuse feel like? World Race leader Andi Wendel gives us a picture from Guatemala.
This young lady is mentally handicapped. Her name is Lisa. She is 26 years old. She lives...
Everybody hurts – be a healer
Yesterday’s blog post referenced one young man’s cry of pain for having grown up fatherless. But so many of us bear deep pain of one sort or another. R.E.M. said it so...
Growing up without a father hurts so
A number of years ago, God spoke to me and said, “This is a fatherless generation.”
I didn’t have much experience with what that meant at the time. Since then I’ve...
America has become a hindu nation
Ask any young person if there is more than one way to get to God and you are likely to hear the answer “yes.” Although Jesus said, “No man comes to the father...
Where does a city’s culture come from?
I always loved the Talking Heads, mostly because of the complex rhythms in songs like, “Burning Down the House.” The mainspring and front man, David Byrne, always exuded...
Barnes children’s code of conduct
Our children are grown and they have matured marvelously – we are so proud of them.
But at times, like all kids, they’ve been rascals. Rules help them navigate in a world...