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I felt a tug at my pant leg and the familiar voice of one of my sons asking me a question. Since I didn’t actually hear the whole question, I had to ask him to repeat it. That’s when my wife, Heidi, calmly chimed in with “Honey, he’s been trying to get your attention for 2 minutes.” Ouch. Guilty.

I’d been looking at my phone doing something I’m sure I thought was important at the time – and totally missed my son. Actually, I was missing my whole family – as I was either reading a news article, responding to an email or posting something on Twitter. All my son saw was that I thought my phone was more important than him.

Joining Jesus on His mission doesn’t have to be complicated – it really just means living intentionally, with the heart of a missionary – and with the Gospel at the center of all that we do. A common fear and misconception is that missional means “additional”… Additional activities, appointments, responsibilities, serving opportunities… Filling up the calendar with more stuff. That perspective can easily start to feel like a heavy burden of duty that induces guilt, rather than a Gospel-centered lifestyle that results in purpose and joy.

I just returned from a week in Postdam, Germany spending time with our global partner, Steffen Weil, and his mittendrin team. (mittendrin means “in the center of it” in German, and is the name of their 4-yr old church plant located right in the center of the city). What a great week of listening, learning and gaining perspective on their vision to reach into their city with Gospel-influence over many sectors of culture – arts, medicine, education, athletics, small business, government, and beyond.

My wife Janet and I have a pretty incredible story (if I do say so myself!) of how we met, dated, courted and eventually got married. I’m still amazed at how God, in His providence, brought us together in a unique way where we both saw His good hand guiding our paths and circumstances to the place where we found ourselves committing to each other for a lifetime. In some ways, the story of how Janet and I originally connected back in college is a great illustration of the process each of us go through in our connection journey to just about anything of value. But more on that later…

Earlier this year I started what I called “Connection Conversations” with various leaders at Fellowship to introduce some new concepts to make it easier to connect at Fellowship. Some of these concepts are foundational biblical concepts and some are cultural concepts. Below is an introduction to one of the cultural concepts that we think will make Fellowship an easier place to connect. I’d like to extend this conversation to you. So, after reading this let me know what you think about this concept.

I’m convinced that disciples are made in the overlap of three essential elements: gospel, relationship and mission. These elements are what I like to call “discipleship DNA.” They are the building blocks of transformational spiritual growth. It’s helpful to picture these three elements (gospel, family and mission) as three legs of a stool. Take out one of these essential elements and any approach to discipleship is likely to be unbalanced.

I have a love of woodworking and one of my recently developed hobbies is making rustic wooden clocks out of reclaimed pallet wood. I’ve discovered great satisfaction in taking something old, broken, stained and discarded and turning it into something beautiful, unique and useful. I have a love of woodworking and one of my recently developed hobbies is making rustic wooden clocks out of reclaimed pallet wood. I’ve discovered great satisfaction in taking something old, broken, stained and discarded and turning it into something beautiful, unique and useful. It wasn’t long ago when my twelve-year-old daughter asked me, “Daddy, can I help you make a clock?”

As a little girl, my wife Heidi always thought that one day she would be a missionary. She had visions of moving overseas, learning a new language – possibly living in the jungles of South America or among the unreached people of East Asia. A REAL missionary!

Every December, Heidi and talk and pray about a “Family Word for the Year” for the coming year. It’s a word that we write up on our white board in the kitchen for the boys to see, and we talk about often – so this ends up being a word that we both feel is necessary to focus on for that particular season in our family’s life. With four boys under the age of 12, we go to this word often!

“Gospel Fluency”: “Our ability to speak and display the gospel in natural and effective ways in any situation in life, leading to transformation and restoration.” Is God stirring something in you that might lead you to become more fluent in the gospel? Consider joining the conversation – the beginning of a journey that will take the rest of your life.