Depression and Suicide are real and both have real effects. Further people from all walks of life struggle with depression and some with thoughts of suicide. This is the reality, to deny this reality is both foolish and dangerous. According to a recent Gallup poll (2023), about 18% of Americans say they are depressed and/or… Read More »
Worship: What is Worship?
For the last several newsletters, we have been discussing the purposes of the church and the believer. To review these purposes: Evangelism- telling people about the love of Jesus. Fellowship- sharing life together. It is laughing together, crying together, praying together, and yes it is sitting around a table together. Ministry- showing the love of… Read More »
Evangelism: Who’s Your One?
The past couple of articles we have been taking a brief look at the why, the what, a touch of the how of evangelism. To make sure we are on the same page evangelism is telling this lost, dying, and hurting world the good news of Jesus Christ through the dynamic indwelling power of the… Read More »
Evangelism: How?
Over the last several months we have been looking at the 6 purposes of the church: Fellowship, Evangelism, Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, and Prayer. For the past couple of months, we have focused on fellowship, and we have also taken a look at the ‘what’ and the ‘why’ of evangelism. In this article, we are going… Read More »
What is Evangelism?
With this article stream, we have been looking at the 6 purposes of the church: Fellowship, Evangelism, Ministry, Worship, Discipleship, and Prayer. For the past couple of months we have focused on fellowship, we now turn our attention to evangelism. Specifically in this article, we are going to look at the what and the why… Read More »
Interacting Purposefully
I was reflecting the other day about the relationships that Jesus had during His earthly ministry and how He related to them. There are many descriptors that we could use for His interactions: the woman at the well (John 4), the lame man by the Bethesda pool (John 5), the adulterous woman (John 8), the… Read More »
Fellowship Issues: Part 2
Fellowship is defined as sharing life together. We share life together as a church when we laugh together, cry together, celebrate together, and sit around a table together. Fellowship is simply being together and being on mission together in the ups and downs as we sojourn through life. In the last newsletter, we discussed the… Read More »
Fellowship Issues: Part 1
Fellowship matters. This is a statement that as church leaders should ring in our ears. It should give us those fond and joyful memories. It should be something that brings us and pulls us together. If you are familiar with Rick Warren’s 5 Purposes of the church you will know that fellowship is one of… Read More »
Fellowship in a Digital Age
While last month, I stepped away from the topic of fellowship for this piece in the newsletter, I want to now return to this topic. Over the past few months, we have spoken about fellowship. Specifically, we have spoken of how fellowship is broken and how to fix it. In this post, we are going… Read More »
Pastors, Rest For Your Weary Souls
As I interact with pastors, I am generally seeing that they are exhausted. Even before the pandemic, I was growing concerned for so many pastors when it comes to emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion. Sadly, pastors are often territorial and isolated with only a few if any real deep friendships. With this lack of a… Read More »
