The recent Missio Dei Journal has dedicated an entire issue to the issue of honor and shame! It's loaded with great content. I was honored to be asked to contribute an article myself. It was probably the most challenging article I've ever written because the topic is so broad and important yet nothing had been written on it specifically. Read more
I challenged the presenters, “Where in the Bible are we commanded to plant churches?” The simple and obvious response was, “it is not commanded.” But if Paul didn’t church plant, then he must have made disciples. Making disciples is the mandate while church planting is a result. Read more
One of the book's authors, Randy Richards, has written another one and it's fantastic. I'm actually one of the endorsers. For that reason, I can't write a formal review of the book in an academic journal, but I can let you know about it here! Read more
Is it true that colorblindness is not the goal of these writers? Depends. They do not reject colorblindness as if they want their children to be judged by their skin color. Quite the opposite. Read more
Strachan's comments come from his sincere ambition to help the church be free from enslaving ideologies that run counter to Scripture. However, as others have also expressed, his words do a disservice to the church. They in fact are counterproductive to the good, fruitful goals that I believe he seeks. Read more
Missionaries are not robots. They are not machines that receive the Great Commission as data input in order to spit out converts as proof they are working correctly. Read more
For years, I’ve heard people stress the priority of “law” over honor and shame when it comes to biblical Christianity. The human problem, some say, it that we do not obey God’s laws; honor or shame should largely be understood as effects stemming from obedience or disobedience. As with countless errors, the mistake is this sort of thinking consists not in what it affirms (i.e., “law” is an important biblical category) but in what it denies (i.e., that honor/shame is fundamental... Read more
I get to teach it internationally, cross-culturally, and through a second language! Of course, this most practical of subjects is Biblical Hebrew. Read more
Today, Christianity Today was kind enough to publish an article I co-wrote with my good friend Jim Mullins, lead pastor at Redemption Tempe. Alongside Michael Goheen, he co-authored The Symphony of Mission, which I previously reviewed on this site. In this article, Jim and I offer a few suggestions for navigating the political riptide of what we call “political denominationalism.” The piece is titled “Political Riptides Rip Us Apart.” In it, we begin by exposing several cultural currents that affect... Read more
There is a movement of God in the New Testament. It is not a church planting movement as it is understood today. It was much more significant, and it connected the story of God to the story of people in such a way that it became the single story of God’s relentless pursuit of a relationship with His creation. Read more
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