One interesting tool in team-building within any organization, including the family, is a personality assessment. My favorite is probably one of the simpler ones – the Smalley-Trent Test. In it, people taking the test are scored on a range of four key personality types based on various animal-types, including the following: The “Lion” – This represents the person with a strong personality who is prone to take the lead in any given situation. What matters is who is in... Read more
I have often pondered the question: What does God find irresistible? In other words, what attitudes and dispositions in man is he the most drawn to? Yes, I recognize that man is basically sinful and alienated from God. Still, the fact remains that God had to start somewhere as he began his plan of redeeming mankind. What characterized the key people he chose? One cannot consider such a question without taking note of two people who evidently captured God’s attention,... Read more
The Bible is a book of connections – connection with God and connection with our neighbor. It began with a man in deep and meaningful connection with God – personal, close, intimate, and consistent. Within just a few chapters of the Bible’s beginning, however, man forfeited this significant place of relationship when he allowed sin to enter the Garden. Most of Scripture after the Fall describes a roller-coaster of men’s weak attempts at getting to know the God of the... Read more
The first time I walked into a Pentecostal church as a sixteen-year-old, I didn’t know quite what to expect. Entering First Assembly of God (AG) in Columbia, South Carolina that Sunday morning in 1975, was different than anything I had ever experienced; I could feel a sense of excitement, freedom, and spontaneity. Then, I heard something I had never heard before in a church service … voices projected other than the pastor’s; audible gifts of the Spirit operating amidst seasons... Read more
For years as a Pentecostal Christ-follower, I have been taught by example to pray that God would “move”, that God would “work”, and even in some cases that God would “show up” on the scene of my needs and opportunities. Now, after several years of praying and following, I am beginning to think that while God can certainly “move”, “work” and “show up” in any way or at any time or in any form he sovereignly desires, that the critical... Read more
As churches endeavor to find more effective and fulfilling ways to engage people in ministry, the team approach is one that also fits the renewed clamoring for community within churches today. Such an approach seems more conducive to experiencing church as an organism as opposed to an organization. Gilbert Bilzekian describes it this way: “In our day, there is a clamor for the church to rediscover its identity as community. Many Christian leaders bemoan the fact that the church has... Read more
Watching a 3-D movie without 3-D glasses is a bland and boring experience. Looking at your life through the wrong lens can be the same way. Without the proper lens, the picture is flat, the colors confusing and the characters lifeless. However, the moment you look through the right lens, the images come to life. The events in the life of Jesus bring meaning to the events of our own. As a matter of fact, the ups and downs, the... Read more
This young man will dash your “Disney Dreams”! Give it a look and let me know what you think. Have we been fed a set of pipe dreams by Disney? And, has it contributed to the Millennial Generation being dubbed the most entitled Gen in American history? Read more
Trust is probably the most oft-mentioned and common ingredient within great ministry teams. Experts from all fields of team building agree on this team essential. No matter what the team ingredient or value is that is being discussed or developed, they really all have their roots in trust or team trust. For example, honesty is an essential value of team, but upon what is it founded? It is founded upon trust. In order for me to be honest with my... Read more
The Quote: “The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused him of being a bore – on the contrary, they thought him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified him ‘meek and mile,’ and recommended him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and... Read more
THE CURRENT - Leading the Following Way
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