Gospel Invitation

He told us, as disciples, to make disciples. Not converts to Christianity, nor to some particular "faith and practice." --Dallas Willard
When the gospel is presented what is being presented? So often, in hopes of seeing people enter the Kingdom of God, "altar calls" simply present a decision to get out of hell. Or, to look at it from a more positive perspective, people are given the chance to "accept Jesus" so that they can go to heaven.

Married and Celibate

Sorry, for those of you who thought I was taking a vow of celibacy. Although with having four kids under the age of five, some of you may think it would be a good idea. I wanted to bring up a new prospective I have on celibacy and abstinence.

How Can They Get Involved?

Sitting around dynamic Church leadership meetings, church board meetings, church staff meetings, and the question almost always comes up, "how can we get people involved?" It seems that a problem exists in churches everywhere, a problem of Christians not stepping up and serving. I have another question to ask, it is not how can we get people involved, my question is "how can you not get involved?" Is it really possible to "take up my cross" and "present my body as a living sacrifice" if I am not involved?

The problem, seems to begin with church leaders. They are asking the wrong question. They should not be asking, "how can we get people involved?" They should be asking, "how can we get people to become followers of Christ?" Christian leaders (myself included) have greatly missed the point. In many cases we have come to the conclusion that if people are involved they are walking with God. It is not our role to get people involved, but to help people develop a relationship with Christ. If people begin to develop a strong relationship with God they will get involved. Our focus should not be on getting people involved in ministry but getting involved with Christ.

Following Jesus

We (Christians) often speak of being followers of Christ. But, how far are we really willing to go with that statement? How far will we follow Jesus?

If we are willing to follow Jesus anywhere that he goes we will find ourselves in some undesirable locations. It is easy to follow Jesus to church on Sunday. It is easy to follow Jesus to a midweek Bible-study. It is easy to follow Jesus to your bed in evening prayers. But is it easy to follow Jesus everywhere that he goes?

If we are willing to follow Jesus wherever he goes we will have to go to the sick, poor, and oppressed of this world. We will have to go into gang infested neighborhoods of Southern California. We will have to go into the starving villages of Africa. We will have to enter into the world of the sex-slave trade of Eastern Asia. We will have to go places which will make us uncomfortable. We will have to go places which will cause us harm. We will have to go places which will get us killed!

Are you willing to take up your cross and follow Jesus? Am I willing? Will we truly risk our lives for the sake of following after Jesus? Will we risk shame for the sake of following after Jesus? Can we really be called followers of Christ, with how we currently live our lives?

It is my desire that this post makes you and I think about what it means to be following Jesus. I desire that that thought would then turn into action, the action of following Jesus. Will we become Christians?