Six people have signed up for my cyber-discipling service (let’s be honest – being web-based, it’s an experiment in intentionality and accountability, but comes with big limitations given the distance. Still, because it’s an experiment, I expect we’ll all learn something through it). Their first big questions and struggles seem to revolve around prayer, so that’s where […]
I believe in discipleship so much, I’m crazy about it. It’s not just that Jesus in his valedictory address commanded it, it also just plain works and it’s the key to the abundant living that Jesus promised. And it’s actually a pretty simple thing – just a process of one-on-one spiritual encouragement or challenge. We […]
Allie wrote me from Kenya. She sent me feedback from students who are trying to listen for God’s voice. I am a proponent of “listening prayer.” I have found that while most of us engage in a monologue when we pray, God is looking for a dialogue. The trouble is, this dialogue doesn’t come easily, […]
Several years later, Jocelyn Woosely, a young lady who helped at the Gateway, was killed in a car accident in Mexico. The staff retreat that year was painful as we mourned her passing. God showed me that He brands those He loves. I remember standing up in front of the staff and trying to express […]
So I didn’t close the door on ministry. I started AIM begrudgingly almost, while keeping my options open with a variety of other business propositions. At the same time, life on the home front was difficult. Karen was pregnant with our fifth child. We had no insurance and nobody to pay me a salary. God […]
I grew up in a family that did not have great feedback loops. We were all about high-performance, but often you didn’t know how to perform well and you had to be careful in how you expressed yourself. As a result, I grew up passive aggressive. It wasn’t until I got married that I began […]
If you’ve been fired, why did it happen? As a young man, I was fired twice. The story I told myself about it I then carried around as a false narrative for years. Why? Reflecting on what happened, I did it to preserve my sense of self-worth. It hurt – I felt incompetent. But it […]
We have a mental health crisis and people are looking for answers. Are there any? Living in this lockdown world the past two years, at times I’ve been confused about what my life is about. With death from the virus a daily reality, what hill would I be willing to die on? Nothing is more […]
Will college football cancel its season? Some conferences already have. If it does, I guess that’s the last straw – what will we men do now? Can you imagine a fall without football? The world is falling apart. Or at least key pieces of it are falling apart for different people. For those of us […]
I have found myself deeply distressed in spirit over the last few weeks and the reason why may come as a shock for some. While it is upsetting to continuously bear witness to the murders of black people across the U.S. and to be confronted day in and day out with the unfair and unjust […]
What is God saying to us? Lots of people are asking that question these days. And the good news is, more of us are listening. Those of us who are Christ-followers have a rich history of a God who talks to people. Yes, a lot of people who are cultural Christians may not really believe […]
Anything that lives is a combination of feedback systems. Even a one called amoeba operates according to stimulus response mechanisms. The more complex an animal is, the more sophisticated its feedback systems. Most animals have auditory or visual systems. But take away sound (underwater, in the case of dolphins) or sight (in dark places, […]
God will speak to you if you’ll listen. Four years ago, a young man in California I’d never met named Joe Bunting read a blog post of mine and emailed me. In the post he’d read was this quote from Fredrick Buechner: In the year that King Uzziah died, or in the year that John […]
I’m constantly challenged by Jesus’ model of discipleship – a model that reaches its greatest intensity as described in Luke 10. It’s a model where in no time at all we see Jesus sending out his disciples with no resources so as to demonstrate the power of God to a hurting world. And in […]
Those of us who follow Jesus need to recognize the degree to which our western mindset has colored our worldview. You have been given all authority to cast out demons. Do you know how to do this? It’s as real here in America as it is in Africa. We need to learn from the church […]
Here’s Chelsea Dipaolo’s story of how her life changed. It illustrates how hard the process can be. It takes a good measure of brokenness along the way. We’ve come to expect it from the World Race – a modern-day initiation experience that our 20-somethings desperately need. It’s insanely scary to stand at the beginning of […]
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 experiment on their countrymen, killing two million of them in an effort to eradicate the the impact of […]
We land in Haiti today. AIM has established a base in Port-au-Prince. Our team of Haitian and American staff and volunteers are serving communities through church partnerships there. My friend Mark Oestreicher is joining us for the second time. “Once we move past the immediate phase of delivering food and water and helping with medical […]
Several years ago I heard James Ryle speak on the subject of “Why waking up is hard to do.” It was a powerful word; about midway through the message, I could sense the Holy Spirit’s presence in the church. It was a small, mainline church filled with kind, earnest people who loved God. Their […]
Too many of us grow up, go to college, and then, wanting to pay off school debts immediately get locked into a career merry-go-round. Next thing you know, we’re 50 and waking up with a spiritual hangover, asking, “What happened?” Julie Lortz was headed to medical school, but went on the World Race instead. She […]
I have spent the past five days with the Searchlight participants urgently praying for Haiti. Our prayers are being answered. Light is infusing the darkness as we speak. This article from Ron Hutchcraft Ministries illuminates the faith rising from the rubble. CNN and other networks went to church today. In Haiti, that is. Because the […]
Before she left for Swaziland this past summer, I gave Kati Bailey a dollar and asked her to invest it somewhere while she was there and report back to me. I forgot that I’d done this, but last night, Kati showed up on Facebook with her report. Here’s what she wrote about it: Well… […]
Last week a group of ladies got together in Sarasota to brainstorm how to build their new ministry to women seeking freedom from past issues – many from shame and abuse. I asked them to file a report for us. Here it is: He pulled her down out of the bed onto the floor. SHHHH […]
Two things: one check out the new World Race video above that Kim Daniels just finished. and two, please pray for the ladies getting together in Sarasota this weekend to hear from God concerning our Beauty from Ashes ministry. Five years ago, God spoke to me about his plan to save the nation of Swaziland. […]