I recently came across Dave Gibbons’ small book, Small Cloud Rising. I know nothing about Dave Gibbons or his ministry aside from the little I gleaned in reading the book, but I’ve been blogging about a “post-consumer” version of the Church, and I want to interact with some of...
In my previous post, I argued that consumerism has affected the church in ways that we rarely consider. We don’t try to convince church members that they need to be buying more stuff, but our structure and overall approach does tend to communicate that each person’s role in the...
In many American churches, consumerism is being used as a vehicle for the gospel. With lessons gleaned from the entertainment industry and the world of marketing, these churches present the gospel using forms of communication familiar to every American. Many people hear the gospel through this type of church....
Jesus is Lord—over all of life! Unfortunately, many Christians fail to consider the implications of Jesus' lordship over anything other than their church life. This is particularly true when it comes to a person's educational and career choices.
David Kinnaman, in his recent book You Lost Me, explains some startling...
As I mentioned in my previous blog, I am excited to be starting a new program in South LA for training cross-cultural church planters. In this post I want to dive in to what the program is going to look like.
My heart as a pastor is to walk in...
I recently announced that I will be leading an internship program through my church, Cornerstone South LA. We call it The Apprenticeship, and it’s designed to train cross-cultural church planters. This is something that has been in my mind for quite a long time, and I’m excited to see...
In class this morning, we discussed some of the challenges facing missionaries as they seek to plant churches in cross-cultural settings. There are many factors that make this difficult, but I want to share one factor that seems most relevant to those of us "at home," whether because we...
Your pastor prays for you. His God-given duty, after all, is to "keep watch over your soul" (Heb. 13:17). But unless you're a rare individual, you don't pray for your pastor as much as you should. I want to convince you that your pastor desperately needs you to pray...
Christians often disagree. That’s why we have so many denominations. That’s why we have so many Christian books about every subject imaginable. That’s why we have so many commentary series. That’s why we have so many blogs.
Disagreement amongst Christians is common. But it’s unsettling. Doesn’t it bother you that...
Each holiday season, we send a dangerous type of person out into the world: Bible College students. You may think I’m trying to be funny, but honestly, this is a dangerous group. Think about the dynamics in play here.
A student leaves his church and comes to an environment where...