Psalm 119:94 – I’m Yours
I emphasize the universal call of belonging to God, highlighting inclusivity in faith while acknowledging Israel’s unique role as a chosen nation tasked with a mission and also the mission of the church.
Psalm 119:88 – Grant Me Life
This passage emphasizes that life and blessings come from God, encouraging gratitude and community contributions, reflecting God’s love and purpose through mutual building up.
Faith on the Edge Podcast and Ditch the Building
Steve Kindle and Bruce Epperly got together on the Faith on the Edge podcast (episode 33) to discuss Nick May’s book Ditch the Building. I’m publisher to all three authors, though as pointed out in the podcast, Bruce has books with a number of publishers. It should be noted that Bruce’s written output is too…
Books | Christianity | Worship
A Morbid and Boring Christianity
The quote above comes from chapter 1 of S. J. Hill’s book, What’s God Really Like?, and I’d like to spend some time with this, looking at it from different angles. The first angle is one of worship. I was in a church committee meeting some years back where a room full of people were…
My Problem with Church Buildings
Some time ago, in fact, on the trip Jody and I took when she met my parents, I had a half-awake dream/vision. I saw a little church building in a mountain valley. I woke up and told Jody about it and that I thought we’d see it on the trip and we would stop and…
Getting Millenials in Church
I don’t know how to get millenials (and other generations younger than mine) into church. The reason is simple: I’m past 60 years old. I hear frequent complaints about the failing of the current (or other intervening) generation. Is it possible, however, that they’re just as smart as or as good as my generation (or…
Measuring Success
It seems to me that one of the most serious difficulties we have in the church today is the way we measure success. We are driven by numbers and money. It’s easy, of course, to justify this. After all, if you don’t have money, you generally can’t help people. I am reminded of Chapter 3…
Acts of the Apostles and 21st Century Action
I publish a couple of books that use Acts of the Apostles as a source for principles to guide the 21st century church. I publish such books with a certain amount of trepidation, as it’s very easy to apply material piecemeal, which results in discovering that the biblical book in question tells us to do…
Toward a Strategy of Worship
Over the last few weeks I’ve been thinking a great deal about strategy in connection with Christian living. It started when I was invited to preach the Sunday after Veterans Day, which was also the Sunday after the election. I used the first chapter of Colossians to talk about our identity and the means that…
Seven Marks of a New Testament Church – Sacrificial Living
… salvation of necessity leads to service. (Seven Marks of a New Testament Church, p. 43) This is the final post of my series on this book, and I’d like to make an observation about the entire enterprise. I’ve become increasingly convinced of two things during this study. First, there is no single form of…