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Beyond Evangelical? – A Follow Up

Two days after I posted my series “Beyond Evangelical?”, Milt Rodriguez – who I took to task in that series – wrote his own blog which helps close the gap, so to speak, that I was addressing. Here’s some follow-up thoughts.

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Post-Modernity

Beyond Evangelical? (Part 3)

A challenge to my “Beyond Evangelical” brethren: If you are not called to something, don’t discredit those who are. Trying to say we must be like you is narcissism – a key characteristic of post-modernity – at its worst. In essence, it’s trying to impose on others a Jesus created in your own image.

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Increasing or Decreasing?

True Leadership

What is the true measure of leadership in the Body of Christ?

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Why Do We Make It So Complicated?

Jesus at the Fringes

It’s amazing how Jesus takes root in the fringes of society when you empower Christ in folks rather than trying to bring “church” to them, take them to “church” or do “church” for them.

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Pastor-Centric "Church"

The Priesthood of All Believers

Then how is it, brothers? When you come together, ONLY ONE of you can have a psalm, a teaching, a tongue, a revelation, an interpretation….

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The Thinker

A Multilingual Jesus

God speaks to some subjectively, and to others objectively, and each often forgets that Jesus is multilingual.

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Indigenous Church in the Local Jail

Planting Churches

I’m not sure why we make planting churches so complicated. It really isn’t. Here’s a recent story from the local jail.

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Embrace

Room at the Inn

This Christmas, the question yet remains: Is there still no room at the inn? Take a chance. Embrace the Joseph’s and Mary’s of our age.

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Creating Jesus in Our Own Image

Ekklesia as Escapism

Too often, we say it’s all about Jesus, when in reality we create Jesus in our own image – shaped by our hurts from the wrongs we have suffered – and use Him to justify our safely-ensconced retreat into self-constructed cocoons.

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Money or Life?

The Mythology of Tithing

In the 13th century, an increasingly complex and self-serving ecclesiastical hierarchy started to adopt the Old Testament tithe to fund their huge cathedrals and support other unbiblical prerogatives they were increasingly assuming for themselves.

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Old Covenant Church

Old Covenant Church

Why are most churches Old Covenant, rather than New Covenant?

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u-turn

The Road to Grace

For the religious, the road to grace is the toughest journey they’ll ever face. But slowly, I’m finally starting to find it.

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Life on a Tight Rope

Ordained to Fail

Those who take on the mantle of “Pastor” are operating within a framework, and on assumptions and traditions, that God never ordained.

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A Hollow Gospel

A Hollow Gospel

Broken lives and real people are inconvenient and demand more than your hollow gospel and podium-oriented focus can give. But praise God, you have great meetings!

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Choices

The Question of Leadership

We do it all backwards. We expect fellowship to emerge from leaders. In God’s providence, leaders emerge from fellowship.

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McChurch?

Going Organic

Going to enjoy a sermon and the worship team in an institutional church is like going to McDonald’s, while forming community and participating in organic church is like cultivating and enjoying a healthy, wonderful garden.

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My Community

Crossing Jordan

For many who leave the institutional church, there is a season where we react to things not out of freedom, but rather out of not wanting to to be like the institutional church. When we remain in a reactive mode, however, we remain in bondage to our institutional church experiences.

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Lost

I Saw Satan Fall

Confession, forgiveness and repentance have become forgotten ordinances that we have twisted into ineffective spiritual abstractions. As a result, most churches have lost the ability to meaningfully administer those graces today.

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mega-church

Starve the Beast

People are cutting back as they see how their tithes and offerings are typically misused by churches. It seems that folks are fed up with all the money grubbing for ego-buildings, staff who are increasingly detached from real ministry, and life-sucking programs that don’t really advance the Kingdom of God.

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Man of God

Narcissists with Power

I’ve finally come to realize that the most dangerous people, and the most charming, are narcissists with power.

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church

Tidy Whitey

Why is it that white, middle-class suburban Christians persist in acting as though God is white, middle-class suburban?

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Crossing Over Chasm

Church?

Have we drifted so far from Biblical norms that we can’t even call a group of Christians who are fulfilling the Biblical mandates for “church” a “church” because the word “church” has become so corrupted?

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Hurt and Confusion

Beauty from Ashes

I take on pastoral sex abuse cases not only because I believe in justice, but because I also believe in redemption. Often, I have the privilege of seeing God’s grace shine through as healing comes and the survivors begin to find the strength to reclaim their lives – and their stolen voices.

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Mentoring Entrepreneurs

Here’s a TV program that’s been airing in our area about one of the ministries in which I’m involved. I, and others, have been mentoring and working with folks who are gifted with entrepreneurial aptitude. Our focus is helping them start and grow new businesses, based on solid, real-world experience and sound Biblical principles.

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Final Product!

Christian Counseling Class

I will be teaching a semester-long Christian counseling class beginning next Tuesday, September 6th, through early December. We will be meeting every Tuesday evening at my home just south of Manassas, Virginia, from 7:00 to 9:15 pm.

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Being the Church

This short video brought tears to my eyes over my longing for authentic church to take root throughout our communities.

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Phoney

Confronting Abusive Pastors, Part 4: Civil and Criminal Law

So you’ve tried to follow the procedure of 1 Tim. 5, as discussed in Part 3 of this series, by investigating and exposing church leaders who abused their positions of power and trust. But what if you were rebuffed? Or what if – despite public reprimand, confession and repentance – you reasonably fear that they [...]

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Confronting Abusive Pastors, Part 3: A Mandatory Public Reprimand

What if an unrepentant leader’s sin is public and brings reproach on the church, or is an abuse of his position of trust and power in the church? Then he must be openly rebuked as a public warning to all – no exceptions! 1 Timothy 5 teaches this.

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Christ Chapel Assembly of God

Confronting Abusive Pastors, Part 2: How Should We React?

How should we react to an unrepentant pastor who’s used his position of trust and power to prey on women – often after turning to him for spiritual counsel and support during vulnerable times in their lives?

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Confronting Abusive Pastors, Part 1: My Personal Angst

Much to my dismay, God keeps bringing people to my door who have been abused by a pastor or other trusted church leader. Over the last year, I’ve taken on three cases against abusive pastors. Two involve significant embezzlement and fraud by pastors in different churches. A third involves extensive sexual abuse and misconduct by [...]

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The Storm

The Storm

There is something in the prophetic personality that loves the thunder, the lightning and the storm.

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Post-Modernity

Understanding the Seven Motivational Gifts

This PowerPoint presentation looks at the seven gifts listed in Romans 12, and the motivations and ways that different people use those differing gifts.

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A Tale of Two Ministries

In nature, there’s a word for a place with inflow but no outflow: It’s called a swamp. God’s people are not called to be dead, stagnant swamps, but to offer living water: Cool, fresh, flowing and life giving. Unfortunately, too many church gatherings are about inflow and not outflow. Churches today are focused on meetings [...]

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Diverse Gifts and Church Meetings, Part 1: The Motivational Gifts

It’s one thing to embrace Paul’s metaphor of the church being the Body of Christ, where everyone participates and ministers one to another according to our unique spiritual gifts. It’s quite another thing to figure out how to do that in practical terms, especially when we meet together and abstract principles hit cold, hard reality.

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The Church in the New Testament: Its Form, Function and Purpose

Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy ride! In this PowerPoint presentation, all that you think of as “church” is about to be challenged so God can woo us back to being, once more, the multi-faceted, wonderful, exciting Body of Christ.

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