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When I got married I had this innocent and extremely naïve belief that I had met the person who would enable my happiness and meet my needs. That was a deeply sincere belief. As a matter of fact, I thought that is why people got married. To have their needs met and to find happiness. After two or three years of increasingly painful and disappointing marriage, we finally reached out for help. We found help in the form of another couple who began to mentor and coach us, to literally show us that there was another way to do this thing called marriage.

It might be that one of the most important things I said at Fellowship Brentwood as we studied the exclusivity of the gospel:

“Follow the evidence.”

My point was that our faith in Christ, based on the Word of God, is not “blind faith.” It is a faith in reliable, verifiable, historically accurate, internal, external and abundant EVIDENCE that the Bible is trustworthy, and therefore its message is true. I would submit that the Christian faith and its claims in the 66 Books of the Bible, stands alone.

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!

When we become a believer in Christ, we are given a new identity – as a disciple, a follower of Jesus. Not based in what we do – but in who we are. It’s truly a “new way of being.” And as my fisherman friend does with fishing, Jesus has called each of us to reorient our entire lives around our identity as followers of Him. Not long ago, Mark Irving wrote a great post on the DNA of Discipleship – the intersection or overlap of three essential elements: Gospel, Family and Mission. I’d really encourage you to read this post. As we find ourselves where these three circles intersect, our new identity as a disciple on mission becomes more clear.

What are you particularly thankful for this Thanksgiving? An informal Twitter survey earlier this year revealed these simple words among America’s top 10: “Life,” “Family,” Friends,” “God,” “People,” “Love,” “Today.” There’s no question we have an enormous amount to be grateful for. But have you ever contemplated what you’re most thankful for as a leader? Here are some of mine. I hope they inspire you toward being a more thankful leader this Thanksgiving season (and this is a great time of year to express gratitude to those we lead).

A couple weeks ago we announced a new expression of Fellowship in South Nashville. We are excited about beginning to start launching. There are a lot of good reasons to join a new congregation. There are also a few bad ones.

Living on mission isn’t very 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…

Name and Title: Larry Kayser, Pastor of Marriage Ministries How do you describe your ministry at Fellowship? To go on the offense. To create a ministry to help marriage move from…

When you hear the word “discipleship” what do you think of? If you’re like me, your mind automatically gravitates toward some sort of process of helping others mature in their faith. We tend to think of discipleship in terms of a program. Our first thought is often something to do, rather than someone to be. While this mindset isn’t completely off base, it can easily put the proverbial cart before the horse.