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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.

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 hope is that through one of the reading plans below, or one of your own making, you will begin to experience in your own life the power of God’s Word—to accomplish all He desires for you, in you, and through you. Most importantly, being transformed by the renewing of our minds by His written, living and active Word.

Bloody Sacrifices, Obscure Laws and Obtuse Stories—that’s what Leviticus is all about, right? Leviticus appears to be a book of antiquated and outdated laws. If we are honest, Leviticus seems dull and irrelevant to the contemporary Christian and the spiritually curious.Yet, when we look at Leviticus in context as a continuation of Exodus: the pages begin to turn over with meaning and significance.

By the end last night, we were all pretty emotionally wiped. But we were also celebrating. God’s grace, His love, His mercy, His pursuit – and the power of the Gospel to transform lives. We had just spent the evening listening to a number of people in our Gospel Primer pilot group share their own personal story in the context of God’s greater story. And to say it was a powerful experience – we’d all agree would be an understatement.

All human beings have a nagging desire to know and understand. We all want to know what’s around the corner. My 4 year old son asks often “what we are doing tomorrow?” and my retired father often wonders “How long am I going to have good health?” No matter where you are on the spectrum of life or what season you find yourself in, we all want to know, to figure it out, and to have all the answers.

This last week, we talked about the concept of gospel listening. The art of paying attention to the patterns in God’s greater story of Creation – Fall – Redemption – Recreation in each of our own personal stories.

This has been particularly convicting to me – because I’m finding out just how bad of a listener I can be. Too often I’m more concerned about telling someone what I think, or fixing a problem rather than hearing gospel patterns in someone else’s story that would allow me an opportunity to speak good news into their life.

In America, we often consider ourselves “blessed,” but maybe we need to re-think the concept of “blessing.” When things are going well for us physically or materially, the words “God sure has blessed us” roll quickly off of our tongues without a second thought. But what about when circumstances are difficult? What about when things do not go as planned? What about when we suffer a staggering loss? Do we consider such times a “blessing” from God? Our African brothers and sisters serving with ALARM do just that. This type of thinking sounds backwards and upside-down to most American ears, but Scripture backs it up.

I love driving into Nashville. A pretty incredible city with so much to do, see, explore and experience. Live music on Broadway, movies and plays in the summer at Centennial Park, the Grammy-winning Nashville Symphony, great restaurants in The Gulch… and our boys LOVE spending hours at the Adventure Science Center. But the reality is, in almost 17 years living here, I’ve rarely taken side roads to get into the city. I almost always take the interstate. 15 min from Brentwood and I’m in the city. And this might sound like stating the obvious – but I’ve never figured out how to get on the interstate without using an on-ramp!