I was in Memphis one snowy morning recently. A CRM teammate we affectionately call “Hound Doggie” and I were designing curriculum for the upcoming reFOCUS:Atlanta conference when his cell phone rang. “Hi Honey… OK… Are you OK? Are the kids OK? Don’t worry about a thing. Stay put and I’ll be there in ten minutes.” […]
Squared off to Bunt (part four) Read More »
In many quarters of the Church, the contemporary understanding is that Christianity is lived in the passive voice. Wikipedia says: “the passive voice denotes the recipient of the action (the patient) rather than the performer (the agent).” The assumption is that the Christ-follower empties herself of all ambition and self-determination and simply waits, patiently, for
Which Will? (part six) Read More »
In I and Thou Martin Buber writes of the freedom each of us has to pursue our destiny. If you’re paying attention, the longer you live the better you understand the unique contribution you are. I say, “if you’re paying attention” because God is communicating. Those endeavors where you’ve had success, failure, frustration, satisfaction, the
Which Will? (part four) Read More »
We’re examining destiny. You have one. Waiting for you. As Buber says, you must pursue it with your whole being, not knowing where it waits. You have a ‘great will’ that wants to live a noble, heroic, God-honoring, and history-impacting life. And, you have a ‘little will’ that above all desires to: Look good. Feel
Which Will? (part three) Read More »
You have been called. By God. Not just to be good. And not to be religious. To be the ‘you’ God intended. To have the impact for which Christ has given you life. You’re destined. Which is to say, there’s a destination for you. A unique, God-honoring difference that you’re the ideal person to provide
Which Will? (part two) Read More »
No book has been so confounding to me and, at the same time, so powerfully influential as Martin Buber’s I and Thou. Large chunks of the book, clumsily translated from Buber’s original German, for me are indecipherable. Then, like a flash of lightning, a paragraph or a page will suddenly illuminate the sorry condition of
Which Will? (part one) Read More »
How does a minister develop tenacity … particularly when the surrounding culture is increasingly committed to relieving tension—in the short run—without regard to the long term consequences? Tenacity is defined as the capacity to stick—like super glue—to one’s commitments. The word comes from the Latin tenere which means “to hold”. In a culture that, over the
The Long View (part three) Read More »
We’re considering the importance of sustained commitment; commitment to vision borne of God though impossible to be actualized in the here and now. Our example is the Duomo di Firenze: an architect’s vision of a majestic cathedral with a dome so immense that it could not have been built when he conceived it. At 142
The Long View (part two) Read More »
As a coach to pastors and Christian influencers, I’m sometimes surprised at the vacillating commitment of we who claim to be Christ’s. I completely understand that life gets tough … so much so that, at times, I want to tear the hair from my head. What I struggle to appreciate is the apparent over-arching power
The Long View (part one) Read More »
The concept we’re examining is being an invitation. Everyone you’ve ever met is an invitation. So are you. For pastors and Christian influencers it’s a great advantage to determine: what is the invitation that you will be, from now on. In other words, what do you intend to invite? The clearer you are, the more
The Invitation (part four) Read More »