Click here to subscribe to this urban ministry podcast on iTunes. GUEST: Kevin Jones In 2010, for the first time in human history, more than half of the people on this planet lived in urban contexts. That’s why urban ministry matters, because people matter. But what are we really talking about when we use the […]
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Leadership: Followership and the Privilege of Pastoral Leadership
All of us are called to follow someone’s instructions. Effective leadership is not forging a solo path ahead of others; it’s learning to follow the right instructions from the right leader at the right time. Dysfunctions in Christian leadership were typically dysfunctions in followership long before they became dysfunctions in leadership.
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Apologetics: Jesus of Faith, Jesus of History, or Jesus of Eyewitness Testimony?
“The more I probed the Bible,” Reza Aslan declares in the introduction to his bestseller Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth, “the more distance I discovered between the Jesus of the gospels and the Jesus of history” (xix). The result of this discovery—at least in Aslan’s estimation—is that the New Testament Gospels should be […]
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Culture: The Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Metanarrative of God
Every human being is hungry for a single overarching storyline that ties all of our smaller stories together. Since 2008, evidence for this hunger has been as close as your nearest cinema. That’s when the release of Iron Man marked the genesis of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not merely a series of movies, neatly […]
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Leadership: Why I Had to Rewrite My Book on Leadership
An earlier version of this post was published on The Gospel Coalition website. “‘Touch not mine anointed.’ That’s what this book says!” the preacher stormed, flapping his Bible above his head. “There are people in this church right now who are trying to touch God’s anointed—but I won’t let them stretch their hands against me!” […]
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Leadership: What’s the Point of Priesthood in the Church Today?
This post on prophet, priest, and king as leadership typology is excerpted from my book The God Who Goes Before You. You can purchase the book here. Over the past century, several Reformed scholars and church leaders have presented the threefold office of Christ—the munus triplex of prophet, priest, and king—as a typology for church […]
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Leadership: A Disposition toward Submission
This post on suffering and submission in leadership was written with Michael Wilder and is excerpted from our book The God Who Goes Before You: Pastoral Leadership as Christ-Centered Followership. You can order the book here. After a meal with his disciples in the upper room, Jesus made his way to a familiar place (John 18:2) […]
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Leadership: Prophets, Priests, and Kings in the Church Today?
This post on prophets, priests, and kings as leadership typology is excerpted from my book The God Who Goes Before You. You can purchase the book here. Does my personality as a leader land me in the category of prophet, priest, or king? And, if it does, what does that mean for my leadership in the […]
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Leadership: Priestly Leadership in the New Covenant
What does priesthood in the Old Testament have to do with church leadership today? Quite a lot, as it turns out—though perhaps not in the way you would assume! Priestly leadership isn’t about becoming a priest; it isn’t even about becoming a caregiver or counselor for the people of God. To understand the implications of […]
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Leadership: The God Who Goes Before You
Today, The God Who Goes Before You is finally available in bookstores! This book on leadership develops a fresh definition of pastoral leadership that is thoroughly grounded in the storyline and canon of Scripture. As the book unfolds, what Michael Wilder and I have developed together is a vision for the leadership of God’s people […]
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Leadership: Kingly Leadership in the New Covenant
This post is excerpted from my book The God Who Goes Before You: Pastoral Leadership as Christ-Centered Followership.You can order the book here. What does kingship in the Old Testament have to do with church leadership today? Quite a lot, as it turns out—though perhaps not in the way you would assume.
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Leadership: Leadership as Followership in the Life of Moses
This post was written with Michael Wilder and is excerpted from our book The God Who Goes Before You. You can order the book here. Incompetent Leaders, Omnicompetent God The opening verses of Exodus invite readers into a story that stretches backward through Abraham to the very beginning of time. Moses wrote that “the Israelites were […]
[Read More...]Leadership: Leadership as Followership in the Life of Moses
This post was written with Michael Wilder and is excerpted from our book The God Who Goes Before You. You can order the book here. Incompetent Leaders, Omnicompetent God The opening verses of Exodus invite readers into a story that stretches backward through Abraham to the very beginning of time. Moses wrote that “the Israelites were […]
[Read More...]
Leadership: Shepherd Leadership as God-Centered Followership
This post on shepherd leadership is excerpted from my book The God Who Goes Before You. You can order the book here. The Failure of Israel’s Shepherds Have you ever faced a situation where someone did such a poor job on a project that you declared, “I’ll just do it myself”? That’s not too different from […]
[Read More...]Leadership: Priestly Leadership in the New Covenant
What does priesthood in the Old Testament have to do with church leadership today? Quite a lot, as it turns out—though perhaps not in the way you would assume! Priestly leadership isn’t about becoming a priest; it isn’t even about becoming a caregiver or counselor for the people of God. To understand the implications of […]
[Read More...]
Apologetics: How Aristides Spoke Truth to Power in the Second Century
Imagine yourself as a follower of Jesus in the opening decades of the second century. Nearly a century has passed since the first followers of Jesus claimed they saw their leader alive three days after they watched him die. Now, the Christian faith has reached nearly every urban center in the Roman Empire. And yet, […]
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Sermon: The Wisdom that Comes from Peace
“Peace be with you.” Christians all around the world repeat these words every week—but what would our lives look like if peace really was woven into every part of our lives? The book of James provides us with a clue: “The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace,” James writes, “by those who cultivate peace” […]
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Sermon: The King Who Died with an Open Hand
In 2007, a movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman wove a new phrase into the vocabulary of Western culture. This new phrase also happened to be the name of the movie: The Bucket List. A bucket list is a series of experiences that you want to have before you “kick the bucket.” Near the end […]
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Writing: If You Want to Remember It, Write It By Hand
Words and writing matter. In the opening chapter of the Scriptures, God speaks, and a cosmos bursts into being (Genesis 1:3). When he constitutes Israel as his people, God speaks and writes, and a covenant is born (Exodus 31:18). John described the incarnation of God in Christ by declaring, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).
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Sermon: Learning to Live in Awe
“For this reason,” Paul declared in his letter to the Ephesians, “I fall to my knees before the Father” (3:14). When people fall to their knees in the Bible, we tend to assume that the primary purpose of their prostration is prayer—and that was indeed part of what Paul was expressing here. But that’s not […]
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