Dan

I have been learning about leadership for the last 10 years in the church culture.  I have taken classes, watched podcasts, heard lectures and speeches, read books and heard it talked about ad nauseum by individuals who believe leadership is next to Godliness.  I have come to the conclusion that leadership is a great thing that often becomes an idol.  Here is what led to that opinion. Biblical leadership is not glamours.  It's hanging out with people while speaking truth, but not really being anyone important.  It's helping and serving and washing nasty feet.  It is without title or … [Read more...] about Some Thoughts on Leadership

I have a BA in English, and most of my undergrad time I heard people say "stop reading about life and experience it".  Fast forward a few years later, I have found myself as a blogger, and I have heard "go out and do ministry instead of just blogging about it".  I also write and speak, so I also get the "stop writing and talking about it and go do it'.  This leads me to the question of the day, is blogging ministry? I think the key is defining ministry. What constitutes ministry? Is blogging, writing, speaking or even preaching or teaching? Is it ministry if you do it volunteer, or if you get … [Read more...] about Is Blogging Ministry?

Yes, I said it. Sex. It's all over the place, in the music, on tv, in video games, all over the internet, on billboards, at the store, it's all over. As I get older, my concern moves to my kids, my daughters and my boys. They are growing up, they are still young but they are hearing about sex at school from friends. It seems like everyone is talking about sex, are we? Sure, the church talks about sex, we have Ed and spouse sleeping on the roof, we have Mark Driscoll writing a book that is full on controversy, but are we addressing the issues?  I was simply told that sex was bad until I was … [Read more...] about Let’s Talk about Sex

I have been a life long Southern Baptist, and have heard my whole life about how simple and easy Salvation is. A decision, a quick prayer and the deed is done. You get dunked later on and you get to eat the cracker and drink grape juice from a little thimble looking cup. It's easy and simple, yet as I look at the words of Jesus, I see some things that scare me, some things that make me think we are doing things the wrong way. In Luke 9, Jesus shares the cost of being a follower, He said that "no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God" (vs 62). Jesus … [Read more...] about Salvation Isn’t Easy

Today I want to address an issue I have seen in Sunday Schools all over. There seems to be a conflict about how to make disciples and teach and have deep learning, yet be open group and grow your Sunday School and church at the same time. I want to propose my suggestion to you today. If I was building a program, this is how I would set it up. First, and I have said this over and over, Sunday School needs to have a 3 fold function of fellowship/connecting people, teaching them scripture, and sharing the Gospel/ outreach. With this function Sunday School needs to be fluid, open group with … [Read more...] about Making Disciples with Sunday School

This has been said before, and I'm not the first to say it, but today I want to get out a soap box. You can disagree with me, tell me I'm wrong and crazy, but this is something I feel strongly about. In the SBC, we are the "people of the Book" and we say the Bible is sufficient, but there is one area I see we don't live it. I have torn a page out of the handbook for cooperate America and grafted it in our New Testament. That is this fascination with purpose statements, mission statements, vision casting and marketing. It's become ludicrous how much we would rather look like GE or IBM than like … [Read more...] about CEO No More

Today I was talking to a friend about my faults. I have many, and one of them is my lack of motivation for things I don't see as important or worthwhile. If I have something to do that I know I should do, but fail to see it as valuable, effective or fruitful, I have a hard time doing. I am definitely the student who said "why do I have to learn this if I'm never gonna use it". I am working on just doing what I need to do, even if I think it's pointless, but I find the number of kindred spirits growing. My generation, the Xers and the generations to follow seem more than unmotivated, they seem … [Read more...] about The Craving of a Generation or Two

Sunday School is an old program that is out of date and has many holes. It requires space for classrooms and teacher training and plans and development. It can be hard to staff, hard to manage, and hard to find space. You should absolutely find a way to tackle these issues and have a Sunday School program. Many churches are moving to small group programs, and by all means have small groups, but don't give up on Sunday School. Here is why. 1. Sunday School is for the family. Sunday School should be age graded and ideally use a family oriented curriculum. This means that every class is … [Read more...] about Yes, You Should Have Sunday School

I doubt it. As tempted as I am to leave that as the entire blog, I will explain my thoughts. I think we as the SBC have become stagnant. There are some alive, vibrant churches out there, but as a whole, we have become still water. The push and pull and twist and tug have all negated each other and movement has stopped. Here are the root issues as I see them (this is my opinion). 1. The move to be missional has become a drive to reach people like us. Let's face it, the world has changed and we haven't. We are still fighting about hymns and organs, using powerpoint and under use online tech. … [Read more...] about Can The SBC Change?