Features

Keep calm and use facts. Maintaining a good reputation is a biblical requirement for pastors. I can understand the visceral reaction of defensiveness when faced with a public attack. Most want to defend their good name. The problem is you escalate the issue when you respond emotionally.

Jesus shed new light on what agape looks like by establishing himself as the standard for agape love. In the end, we will best build beloved community as we love just like Jesus loved us.

What are the benchmarks for a new church plant?

Everyone who is Jesus’ disciple is his witness (Acts 1:8) and is sent somewhere, whether locally or further afield. The New Testament shows us fishermen, tax collectors, former prostitutes, women who’d had 5 husbands, zealots, ex-Pharisees, old, young, rich, poor, educated and uneducated, sent out on mission to draw people to Jesus. So there’s no excuse for watching someone else do it instead of us.

Remember that we live in an 8 second world, and first impressions are critical. In that context, whether you have one person or a multi-person team helping in the parking lot, they’re the first contact new visitors will receive.

When you lead a church, you can’t help but dream—and dream big. I think that’s one of the marks of a leader. But for most, it’s not long before the dream comes face to face with reality.

Seeking to build a multiethnic church in one of the most racially divided cities in the world

The future is uncharted territory, but we walk forward into it whether we like it or not. Believers have a Lord who dwells in the future as well as the present. We can go confidently into “that good night,” as one put it. “He leadeth me in paths of righteousness.”