Not long ago, I stood inside a re-created first-century synagogue at the Museum of the Bible. The room was simple, featuring stone benches along the walls, columns that framed an open space, and a table in the center. But as I stood there, it struck me: this wasn’t just an architectural design. It was an ethos. These synagogues, common in Jerusalem between the first and third centuries, were not primarily performance halls or places of worship through song. They were... Read more
Later this week, I am headed to the beach to celebrate my wife, Katie McLain, and her birthday. One of the things I am most excited about, besides being with our family as we celebrate, is the chance to read. Our beach trip earlier in the year is often more packed with activity, but this one in the fall season is full of downtime and togetherness. Each year when we go to Ocean City, Maryland, for this trip, I look... Read more
Growing up in the 80s and 90s, many of us remember Nancy Reagan’s famous campaign to keep kids off drugs. The “Just Say No” slogan was everywhere—at school assemblies, in TV commercials, even on the lips of police officers who visited our classrooms. There were T-shirts, folding frisbees, cups, and more that were distributed with this slogan on them. We loved the freebies. This slogan was probably as well-known as Nike’s “Just Do It.” Whether used in earnest or in... Read more
One of my favorite quotes comes from Kurt Vonnegut in A Man Without a Country. Vonnegut remarks, “Progress has beat the heck out of me” (Vonnegut 2005, 56). I feel like that. We are swept up into a sea of busyness for progress through technology, thought, and consumerism. We see busyness as progress, and progress as happening as a result of busyness. As some authors described in Everyday Theology, “The business of America is busyness” (Vanhoozer 2007, 155). More than... Read more
This Sunday at River Corner Church, we tried something a little different. We experimented with shared learning. On fifth Sundays, we’re beginning a new rhythm: worship shaped by conversation. Instead of listening to only one voice, we opened Scripture together in a Lectio Divina fashion, noticing what stood out, asking questions, and helping one another hear God’s voice. When Paul urges the Thessalonians to “make it your ambition to lead a quiet life” (1 Thessalonians 4:11–12), he is speaking to... Read more
In my last blog post, I looked at the four stages of faith and conversion that we commonly go through as followers of Jesus: calling, challenge, catalytic moments, and convergence. In this post, we examine what qualities Good Leaders will possess as mentors in those stages. I admit in that reflection that I oversimplified the stages to avoid formulas and to make it memorable in the contexts I serve (Water Street Mission and River Corner Church). I am also okay with... Read more
Scripture reminds us that faith and conversion are not just moments but a journey. There are at least four stages of faith and conversion, but I will hit on that later. The psalmist writes, “He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3). Abraham stepped into the unknown (Genesis 12:1), Israel followed God through cloud and fire (Exodus 13:21–22), and the disciples on the road to Emmaus felt their hearts burn as they realized Jesus was... Read more
I recently wrote on this for our work newsletter, but sometimes, four simple words—“I see in you” (an ICNU conversation), can change the entire course of a life. “I think you could be a pastor,” Jerry Shannon said to me. That was an ICNU conversation. I had just returned from a few months on the road and was preparing to head back out with some bands and organizations. Jerry was gently challenging areas of growth in my life, while also... Read more
Jesus promised that his voice would lead us. In John 10:27, Jesus states, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” It is a passage that is common to many of us, and it made for good Sunday school lessons when we were growing up. However, discerning the voice of our shepherding God is a lot harder than those early Sunday School lessons made it. In a noisy world, it can be hard to believe... Read more
Rodney Reeves writes in his Story of God Bible Commentary on Matthew, “False piety is a huge problem today. The reason I know that’s the case is because fame is an unquestioned social good in our culture—even in the ‘Christian’ world.” I wholeheartedly agree. Fame is celebrated as a platform that can be used for good, a way to win back culture, or even as a sign of God’s favor. Reeves rightly laments that “even though Jesus taught that social... Read more
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