Articles

People Matter

I was re-reading my notes from attending the Hawaii Leadership Practicum back in 2012, and I stumbled upon a powerful reminder for leaders. The leader of the practicum, Wayne Cordeiro, told us A mind can reach a mind, but only a heart can reach a heart – Wayne Cordeiro Another way to say this is…

Labeling Children

I have a two-year-old boy. Following directions is not high on his list of life goals at the moment. I’m sure just about every parent can relate. So my ears figuratively perked up when I read this NPR article (link to article) titled, To Get Help From A Little Kid, Ask The Right Way. From…

Faithful Invention

I was recently invited to the ATX Hackerspace in Austin, TX for an event, and I happened to be in town for it. If you consider “geek” a term of endearment, head to your local hackerspace or makerspace posthaste! You will feel warm and fuzzy inside. While I was touring the space and meeting the…

Who Do You Work For?

In my role as discipleship pastor, I am tasked with overseeing, guiding, and evaluating the performance of other ministry workers. I have also performed this role as a computer programmer overseeing other computer programmers. This gets a little interesting around evaluation time. I once read a great book titled First Break All The Rules: What…

What Is Prayer…and Am I Any Good At It?

Those who work with me have undoubtedly heard me say that prayer is one of my lowest spiritual gifts. I am 100% sure about this, but I regularly get surprised reactions from people when I tell them. What Is A Spiritual Gift? To me, a spiritual gift is something you do that brings you and…

Can You Be More Specific?

I was meeting with a dear friend recently, and I end our times together by asking what I should pray for him over the next few months. He told me the first thing that came to mind, I gave him a look he knows all too well, and he replied, “Yeah, that’s not specific enough,…

Really? Really? OK!

Late one weekday evening, almost everyone I knew found themselves at the same viewing before a very hard funeral. The line stretched outside. As I approached the dearly departed, I felt an all-too-familiar nudge. It’s something different every time, but this time the nudge said: “Tell that man that this is his chance to be…

Maximize God’s Profit

A while back I read an article (link to article) about a Christian using his business to live out Biblical justice. He intentionally employs refugees at his Richmond Chick-fil-A. “I remember [hearing from] a pastor whose congregation was made almost entirely of refugees from various African nations. I was humbled that the stranger and alien…