Mobilizers get passionate about the things they have a vision for. Unfortunately when we are passionate about our vision, we may not be passionate about the God-given vision someone else has. Mobilization for missions must be about prodding people toward the voice of God and the leading of the Spirit in their lives—not about swaying [...]

We must proclaim the Gospel. We must not shy away from it, or be ashamed of it. Still, if everyone goes out and preaches – and no one makes disciples, or raises up more preachers – we will not multiply. Around us, some populations are growing fast, others are growing slowly, and still others are [...]

If the Kingdom is like a farmer, we can think of two different ways that a church can be focused. One is to emphasize “stewarding the seed” which we have been given–preserving it, especially in times when planting conditions are poor and harvesting conditions seem poorer. We might plant some of it, but not necessarily [...]

In recent decades some churches have gotten very good at mass-reproducing new churches. We have a very particular way of doing so: generally, a church planter, a place, a building, some people, a set number of programs (welcoming visitors, new member classes, baptism classes, worship, discipleship, etc). We take these programs into other nations and [...]

Efficient.
Teachable.
Reproducible.
Improveable.
Fixed.
Predictable.
Breakable.
Attacked.
Adaptable.
Mutated.
Abandoned, eventually.

We humans are namers. We categorize, describe, and assign names to collections of categories. With time, and use, and experience, some names become powerful. They take on certain attributes: richness, experience, wisdom, class, coolness, hip, radical, rebellious. The challenge is: sometimes we think of certain names as the “right” names. The “best” names. The “only” [...]

There is a difference between what is difficult to believe, stupendously improbable–and the miraculous. The difficult to believe encompasses those things which we, from our own cultural standpoint, find hard to think true. For example, that the church might grow more rapidly in an area where there are some Western missionaries, but not many. Or [...]

Faith is not a magical formula. Faith is not just belief. To be faithful is to be loyal – to keep faith with your sovereign. To have faith is to be loyal to God and obey what He has told you to do. To have faith is to pursue the commands and vision and purposes [...]

Money is not a method of keeping score.It is not security in the bank. It is not a treasure. Money is a slip of paper, or a metal coin, which represents the possibility of trade. Money is simply a symbolic representation of the value we place on the few minutes we have, the dreams we [...]

Sometimes, God allows our dreams to nearly be killed before providing a route of salvation–as a way of trusting our faith: as he did with Abraham.Sometimes, God allows the dream to die entirely so that he can provide the ultimate reassurance: resurrection. Resurrection can only come to that which is dead. Unless we are willing [...]