Blogs and Articles

Last Halloween was cold — REALLY cold. The little pack of kids from our cul-de-sac started out with vigor on their candy-hunting quest, but soon found themselves shivering uncontrollably in their coat-less costumes. Only two blocks into our neighborhood, it was time to retreat! So without any intentional planning, my wife and I stumbled into a prime opportunity to build relational bridges with our neighbors. We invited the pack of kids inside our home and the warm spot in front of our fireplace quickly became the neighborhood candy counting and trading station.

“Probably 30 minutes went by before they started to stir… And you could tell just the incredible power of that moment for them… And the looks on their faces were… that they had experienced something extremely powerful in the presence of Jesus Christ, in a moment that had been extremely traumatic for them for years and years…”
– Scott McPherson

I’m rarely entrusted with kitchen duties, but when the recipe is simple enough, my lovely wife will occasionally hand over the apron. Pancakes are my specialty. Bisquick mix, milk, and eggs. Boom. Pancakes. My Saturday morning triple-ingredient culinary masterpiece! When it gets more complicated than that, my wife wisely and mercifully takes the apron back.

Less under our tree means more for the world…

Exponentially.

When we consider the incredible impact Fellowship is able to have around the world, Global Christmas is truly the time when our mission goes exponential. You’ve heard often that we exist to “proclaim Christ, mature in the faith and give our lives away.” And as we come alongside our global partners both in relationship and through our generosity, we are helping them lead their people – in their own unique ministry context – to proclaim Christ, mature in the faith and give THEIR lives away as well! So, in very real and tangible ways, every dollar invested in our partnerships through Global Christmas helps our mission go exponential.

I get mixed responses when I mention that I oversee “missional living” at Fellowship. They usually fall into three categories. Sometimes I can read the response immediately in someone’s expression of confused curiosity that seems to say “What on earth is missional living?” Understandable since missional has been defined in so many ways. Or a smile that communicates resonance with the idea of living ‘on mission’ – and I’m guessing they might have read some recent blog posts or books or listened to a podcast that’s defined it in a palatable way.

Convergence. It’s always been the case that God asks His people to trust Him above and beyond their present circumstances. Convergence is a way to describe how God weaves our circumstances into the fabric of His divine plans. Scripture’s narratives repeatedly underscore how trusting God is the only thing that ultimately makes sense because in these narratives, and in the narratives of our lives, God converges His ultimate, determinative Reality with our limited, contingent reality. Interestingly, God never says that our “little r” realities aren’t real or consequential, but rather that His “big R” Reality will always and unfailingly prevail.

Avi Luskie taught me how to block. We played sandlot football in my neighborhood. Boys gathered at the “field” and we played tackle football on hard dirt. I was a tall, lanky, uncoordinated kid. I was often picked last. No matter. We were out to have fun. And fun we had. At the end of our street lived a 20something stud. “Avi” (short for Avner, I suspect) was a big strong athlete. As elementary age boys, we looked up to him, literally and metaphorically.

In May, I hit the BIG 50-year milestone birthday and wanted to do something special to commemorate the event. Six months earlier, I started planning for the big day and narrowed it down to two options: 1) train for a marathon or 2) read through the Bible. I opted for reading through the Bible and actually finished ON the morning of my actual birthday. I concluded with Deuteronomy 34, “And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him.”

Our teaching pastors are often invited to speak on special occasions at organizations and institutions across the country. I thought you might enjoy seeing a recent message that Michael Easley gave as he was honored to deliver the commencement speech at the Dallas Theological Seminary graduation ceremonies on May 9th.

“God has initiated every part of His work throughout history. Instead of carrying out His mission on His own, God chooses to accomplish His mission in a very personal way.He chooses to involve His people with Him, working through them to accomplish His purposes. When He is about to take a further step to advance His mission, He comes to one or more of His servants… He lets them know what He is about to do. He invites them to join Him, asking them to adjust their lives to Him so He can accomplish every aspect of His mission through them.”