Mike Leake

What you are about to read just might be the ramblings of a mad man. I pray the words are received in the spirit in which they are given. At the end of the day I might not have a clue as to what I’m talking about. So just consider this a friendly observation from one who is still trying to work through solutions. For the past few years church planting has received a good deal of attention, and rightly so. In fact, I’ve argued in the past that we might need to put a bit more focus on church revitalization. Though I’m certain having nothing to do with me personally, I’m happy to see that a … [Read more...] about A Few Thoughts On Church Revitalization

A couple years ago we launched a 31 day challenge for husbands to be intentional about praying for their wives. We followed this up with a challenge to pray for sons, daughters, and for wives to pray for their husbands. We even partnered with Tim Challies to do a 31 Days of Purity challenge. You can check all of these out by going here. I say “we” because this really has been a group effort. I started the pray for your wife challenge anticipating about 50 guys to join me. I was amazed to see that number reach the thousands. Our format was simple. First our intention is to put a FACE on … [Read more...] about Pray For Your Church: 31 Day Challenge

Adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. Adoption is about an entire culture within our churches, a culture that sees adoption as part of our Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself. –Russell Moore Adoption is a gospel issue. It’s also a great picture of the gospel and what the Lord has done for us. God, in His great love, has chosen to place His affection on sinners. He has set us as the object of His affection and has determined to make us His children. When I think about the biblical story it is amazing to me the great depths that … [Read more...] about Help Bring Sophia Home

Can I tell you a secret…that you might already know? I’m really bad at self-promotion. I mean really bad. I really truly believe in The Seeds Project, but I’m just not sure how to get it off the ground. There isn’t any other children’s devotional like it. We’ve started in Colossians and I’m working on Philippians now. I’m so confident that you’ll like it and tell friends about it that I want to give you a free copy. But you have to meet these very strict qualifications: If you are a blogger and would be willing to write a review. You qualify. If you are a person who can put … [Read more...] about Would You Like a Free Book?

I’m convinced that doubt has become a sexy virtue in our culture. Our generation has rightly understood that the Bible invites us to an authentic expression of doubt. But we’ve wrongly assumed that being in a state of doubt is an attractive virtue or somehow the summit of Christian experience this side of Eden. I have to confess I’m often tempted to keep doubt around a little longer than I should. Given my repulsion at doubt being considered a sexy virtue, I was intrigued by Barnabas Piper’s new bookHelp My Unbelief. The subtitle is what really grabbed my attention: “Why Doubt Is Not the … [Read more...] about Review of Help My Unbelief By Barnabas Piper

It really should be easier to trust God. But we are silly creatures and so trusting the Almighty is difficult. Of course if he only asked us to do tiny things then it wouldn’t be as tough. But God doesn’t make small promises—he makes big promises that blow our minds and require big trust. Richard Baxter in his Christian Directory gives 15 directions for developing a “quieting and comforting trust in God”. I’ve modernized them a bit to make them more helpful to you: Meditate on the greatness of God, and remember that “all things that we can fear are nothing, and can do nothing, but by … [Read more...] about 15 Helps for Developing Trust in God

“Your Bible is full of contradictions…” As a good Bible-believing Christian you hear such a statement and balk. And then in the quiet of your bedroom you stumble upon a few of these “contradictions”. As a bit of shame fills your heart, you begin to wonder if maybe those who deny the Bible might have a point. After all, this is a pretty obvious contradiction. You’d think an omniscient God would have caught such a discrepancy. But there it is in 1 and 2 Samuel. 1 Samuel ends with the death of Saul who “took his own sword and fell upon it” (1 Samuel 31:4). Suicide. Rather than be … [Read more...] about Did Saul Kill Himself or Was It an Amalekite?

History has always been a series of pendulum swings, but the individual doesn’t have to get caught in that. –Robert Johnson A pendulum, if you remember, is a weight that gets displaced on one side. Due to the force of gravity the weight will swing from one side to the other—losing a bit of force each time, before finally resting in the middle in what is called the equilibrium position. History nerds, like myself, note how history seems to follow this same pattern. We go from overreaction to overreaction and finally settle somewhere in the middle. It’s a fitting analogy, but isn’t … [Read more...] about As the Pendulum Swings: Let the Deacons Do It

If you start thinking about thinking you aren’t thinking anymore. I believe C.S. Lewis said something similar about worship. If you start thinking about the fact that you are worshipping then suddenly you aren’t worshipping anymore. I believe the same thing is true about mission. And with all our talk about going on mission and living a missional life its really hard to actually just eat with tax collectors and sinners like Jesus did. As soon as we do something legit like this we have to pull out our smartphones and Instagram our new buds so all of the social media universe can see us … [Read more...] about Hanging With Sinners

History tends to follow pendulum swings. The church is not immune. As finite and sinful human beings we have a tendency to bounce from one extreme to another—dancing around the truth along the way. I’ve got a handful of pendulum swings that I’d like to address. Today I want to address one that I’ve termed Family First. Why the Pendulum Swung I remember in college, while training to become a youth pastor, hearing stories of men who neglected their families for the sake of ministry. The professor had no shortage of examples of men who had sacrificed their family for the sake of … [Read more...] about As the Pendulum Swings: Family First