The focus of this collection is on the people of God and Christian living. Discipleship seems to be trending again in the last 40 years especially. We have rediscovered the spiritual disciplines or exercises in the Protestant Church. Our Catholic neighbors never lost track of them. We have seen the rise of spiritual formation as a legitimate field of study and practice. We have also seen glimpses of what could be called community development. The focus is on developing the community of faith first, as a place that raises up healthy Christians. Congregations are experimenting with reinvented forms of Sunday school, small groups, house churches, spiritual direction or mentoring, etc.
This is a collection of quips, good articles, and a video on the German Reformation by Rev. Vernell Ingle, M.T.S., M.Div., retiring Faculty Chair of Christian Ministry at Messenger College (and Dad).
If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: If you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth. – C.S. Lewis (G+ 11.18.14)
“Hurry is not of the devil; hurry is the devil.” – Carl Jung. Is it possible Jung had a grasp of a truth we find in Scriptures like Proverbs 28.20, Mark 6.31, etc.? (G+ 05.26.15)
2016
“God’s plan began in the Garden, but it ends in a city. He has a vision for your city, a vision to make it a place where the church becomes a voice and a place of hope.” – Frank Damazio (G+ 02.17.16)
“The peace which Jesus brings is rooted in the Old Testament promises. It therefore clearly means universal ‘shalom’ throughout the whole created order – not just absence of conflict but harmony, balance and health . . . Christians are kingdom people when, having found peace with God through Jesus, they build a peaceful community and become agents of God’s ‘shalom’ in the world” – Howard A. Snyder (G+ 02.23.16)
2017
“He knows God best who recognizes that whatever he thinks and says falls short of what God really is.” – Thomas Aquinas (G+ 01.05.17)
“Conceiving of Christian faith as a private affair between the individual and God – a matter of my asking Jesus to ‘come into my heart’ – modern evangelicalism finds it hard to articulate just how or why the church has any role to play other than providing a place to fellowship with other individuals who have a private relationship with God.” – James K. A. Smith (G+ 07.07.17)
“The rich man is not the one who has collected many possessions but the one who needs few possessions; and the poor man is not the one who has no possessions but the one who has many desires.” Chrysostom on the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus (G+ 10.12.17)
“. . . a true Christian is a rare animal; the world and nature pay no heed to them.” – Martin Luther (Reformation 500th Anniversary, 10.31.1517 – 10.31.2017) (G+ 10.16.17)
Happy Reformation Day! Did anyone else sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God” to their 4 year old at bedtime? Of course I had to play the classic a cappella version by GLAD as well.
Son: “Dad are they singing that song to us? To you and to me?”
Dad: “You know son, I believe Martin Luther had every Christian in mind when he wrote that. He wanted to encourage us that God is stronger than anything else!”
Son: “Does everybody have that on their phone?”
Dad: “I don’t know.”
Son: “Maybe you should tell them!” (G+ 10.31.17)
Article: 28 Non-Numerical Signs Of A Healthy Church, Karl Vaters, Christianity Today (G+ 12.03.17)
Not sure how long this will be posted, Robert Morris from Dad’s church. Sermon video: Under Attack, Gateway Church (G+ 12.08.17)
These are interesting thoughts, and not too preachy against shopping, coming, and going. Make sure to read both pages if you’re interested. Enjoy the Christmas Season and the REST of your weekend. Article: Want To Reach Unchurched People? Don’t Create A Sense Of Urgency, Offer An Alternative To It, Karl Vaters, Christianity Today (G+ 12.16.17)
2018
Article – Recalibrate: 10 Steps Every Church Must Take This Year Or Be Dead In A Decade, Karl Vaters, Christianity Today (G+ 01.04.18)
Today is his birthday . . . not Luther’s . . . Professor Ingle’s. Here is a rare glimpse of him teaching passionately, unpacking our common history and applying truths for today. (G+ 01.16.18)
“Reproof is loving confrontation laced with encouragement to embrace a better way that leads to obedience and advancement in Christlikeness . . . repentance . . . renewed commitment . . . reshaping . . .” – Ron Hawkins on the inspiration of the Bible for producing change (2 Timothy 3.16) (G+ 01.17.18)
Forbes top 25 Christian schools, 2016 Article – The Top 25 Christian Colleges: The Essential Questions On Religion And Education, Carter Coudriet, Forbes (G+ 03.07.18)
We all know there’s a difference between quality and quantity, and that numbers are not everything. And yet do you remember our Lord ministering to 4K and 5K at different times (not including women and children)? Perhaps we can recall similar numbers in Acts. The NT Jerusalem Church is thought to have reached 30-40K (easily making this list). May the Church in America cast in her nets again tomorrow and just see if there isn’t a great catch! Happy Easter! Article: America’s biggest megachurches, ranked, CBSNEWS (G+ 03.31.18)
Article: 5 Tell-Tale Signs Your Church Is Geared to Insiders, Not Outsiders, Carey Nieuwhof (G+ 04.04.18)
Karl Vaters writes for CT to smaller congregations, and focuses on discipleship. Jesus seems to start with discipleship and the crowds are a result, not the other way around. Article: Does Attracting A Crowd Make Discipleship Harder, Karl Vaters, Christianity Today (G+ 04.07.18)
Brief Therapy’s Miracle Question: “Can I ask you a sort of strange question? Suppose that you go to bed tonight and sleep well. Sometime, in the middle of the night, while you are sleeping, a miracle happens and all the troubles that brought you here are resolved. When you wake up in the morning, what’s the first small sign you’d see that would make you think, ‘Well, something must have happened – the problem is gone!'” – Chip & Dan Heath, Switch.ii.5 (G+ 04.26.18)
Brilliant message this morning! (G+ 07.29.18)
View this post on InstagramPastor Clark declares, “If you want to get on stage you must first take the steps!” God was about to place Elijah on a huge stage but He first sent him into a place of hiding. It would never have came to pass without Elijah’s obedience. If we want to have the Mt Carmel miracles in our lives we must first have the Kerith Ravine moment. #takethestepsA post shared by Mark Beasley (@thetrojanad) on
There is a real possibility your pastor could struggle with depression, or something similar, at times. Where do you start? As someone who studied this from a mental health perspective in seminary, we could start by asking what causes my pastor to burn out. But we should also ask what helps my pastor to thrive! There’s also sound advice in the video. Article: California Church Shocked After Pastor Commits Suicide, Emily Jones, CBNNEWS (G+ 08.30.18)
2019
Jesus offers the Rich Man perfection. This is a valid offer of perfection. Not only that, but Jesus offers him the possibility of being the 13th Disciple. Here is a man whose life is torn in two. You don’t see it on the surface, but he desperately pleads with God and keeps asking Him questions until he finds out the answer. (G+ 02.06.19)
“Prayer is not a monologue in which we imagine ourselves to be communing with God. Rather, it is a dialogue through which God fashions your heart and makes his dream of you a reality.” – Ravi Zacharias (G+ 02.02.19)
“One of the greatest difficulties a local pastor faces in leading a body of believers is when the people of his church have not yet made the transition from being attending believers to participating disciples.” – Jean-Paul Engler (G+ 02.09.19)
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