The Christian Imitation

If ever a blog caused me to shout, "Amen!", then it is the one to be found via this link:  http://tinyurl.com/2apswrn


The blog is around five years old, but it captures my heartbeat.  I long, almost with desperation (if you can be "almost" desperate), for originality in the Church.  I myself have fallen prey to ripping off catch-phrases in our culture.  And honestly, I think ON OCCASION it can be a good thing.  


My concern with many of us modern church leaders is that we have taken the easy way out and fallen prey to piggy-backing society's successful marketing tactics -- whether God told us to or not! The result is an undeniable absence originality in the Church when compared with the level of creativity culture is currently producing.  This ought not be when the Creator of the Universe lives within us.  Surely, creativity does not have to be stale, when we have access to such unlimited creative power. 


May God raise up culture-shakers! Image-breakers. Jesus followers.  Men and women with faith like John the Baptist, who are so different that the world responds to them although the Church rejects them--then have the courage to stand there and risk their head in spite of not being given a plaque by their local ministerial fellowship or denominational hierarchy!


The result will be an empowered, original approach to worship & preaching that will reach the Harvest in a way that the world's curiosity can not resist!

The Next Christians

What if there were a new group of Christians already on the scene but not yet identified in culture as being different from their predecessors?

Gabe Lyons describes this group as The Next Christians and he is of the opinion that they  possess six characteristics that distinguish them from the hard-headed stubbornness found in many older Christians of our time. 


The Next Christians are:

• Provoked, not offended.
• Creators, not critics.
• Called, not employed.
• Grounded, not distracted.
• In community, not alone.
• Counter-cultural, not relevant.

I whole-heartedly agree!

For further review follow this link: The Next Christians by Gabe Lyons

Carmel on Fire

I'm not trying to be super-spiritual or overly prophetic, but I have to admit that when reviewing the news this morning I saw something that gave me cold chills. The area of Israel surrounding historic Mt. Carmel is ablaze with fire.  Thousands of acres burning beyond control...

Imagine the area where God once brought fire from heaven to earth, once more being engulfed with flames. Mt Carmel, the place of God's Old Testament outpouring, suddenly burning bright with a fire that man seems to be unable to stop!

Admittedly, this fire was started by men in the name of arson. However, knowing this fire is not supernatural in its nature does not change the spine-tingling feeling that comes over my soul when I compare the horrific images of today's fire with my mental pictures of Scripture's 1 Kings 18 account.

Here is the article detailing Israel's battle against the blaze. After you read it, please pray for rain and also for divine wisdom to be imparted to the undermanned firefighters:  Massive Fire in Carmel - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

One Year to Live

Here is an awesome, inspiring blog posted by a couple who made a decision to walk into a setting that required great faith.

Read their story and envision a couple who has made a decision to become modern day Ezekiel's... One Year to Live - Bruce and Heather Moore

Shallow Leadership

I read a blog by Ron Edmonson today that provoked me to evaluate my approach to leadership.

Is it possible to be a deep theological thinker and at the same time be a shallow spiritual leader? I believe it is...

Here are seven examples of how a shallow leader will think:  7 Examples of Shallow Leadership by Ron Edmondson 

Better Together

10 years ago @ 7pm in the quaint Begley Chapel, situated on a rolling hill of the Lindsey Wilson College campus, Amanda Leann Gossage agreed to spend the rest of her life with me. Since that time my original opinion, that we are BETTER TOGETHER, has become an undeniable fact...

There is no combination of words I could put on the postcard

And no song that I could sing, but I can try because this is your heart and this is our dreams and they are made out of real things. Love is the answer at least for most of the questions in my heart, like
Why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard?
It's not always easy and sometimes life can be deceiving
I'll tell you one thing, it's so much better when we're together

(I long for more moments...)
With only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do or places we got to be, And there is no combination of words I could say
But I will still tell you one thing 
We're better together, We so much better when we're together...

(lyrics of Jack Johnson's Better Together slightly modified...)

YouTube - Jack Johnson's Better Together

The Gift -- December Wednesday Night Series

Tonight 3trees Church will dive into a brand-new Wednesday night series, The Gift.  The next four Wednesday nights will provide a setting where we will take an in-depth, revelatory look at what the Bible has to say about one of Heaven's most special gifts to Earth...

Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And receive THE GIFT of the Holy Spirit.  (Acts 2:38)